walk to the east
by orpheus-under-starlight
Summary: Wit Danales knows better than most what a world without the Score might look like. When she runs into a fon Fabre and an Oracle Knight in Tataroo Valley, she gets a lot more than she bargained for-including a chance to make that world a reality. [OC Insert]
1. Chapter 1

**walk to the east**

Wit Danales knows better than most what a world without the Score might look like.

* * *

Lorelei watches the end of the world unfold in a thousand different ways, every little difference branching out from the Score and its generalities, every path thrumming with a discordant note in the fabric of reality. No solution, no outcome that comes about as dictated by the Score, is a good one.

It will not do. For himself, for his scion, for the world; Lorelei hovers in the stillness and tries to fill the gap, but every time he reaches for light he is burnt by the walls of Yulia Jue's pact. Constrained, he has no recourse but to reset—again and again—and hope that the ones the Score has forgotten about, the simplest things they do, will slip through the cracks and revolutionize his Auldrant.

At times, they succeed. Humans are such brilliant, ingenious creatures, after all. Some of the things his scion does surprises even Lorelei, and he has been Lorelei for longer than any of the other spirits, since before there was time and space. Once his scion even managed to divert He Who Would Seize Glory from his chosen path, though despite that, the flames of war had consumed the world. It was the closest the world got to a healthy survival.

So Lorelei comes to a conclusion: To save Auldrant, the Score must be destroyed… and only one who exists outside of the Score may bring destruction down upon it.

He sees. He watches. He waits.

Something approaches on the stream of time that winds about him like a chain—a ship, caught in a hurricane. This ship has been caught in this hurricane many times before. As always, Lorelei feels lives slipping away rapidly… but this time, something has commanded his attention beyond their cries. A moment in time ahead of them, there is something insignificant. Suspiciously so.

A young girl, clinging to a broken piece of wood that barely keeps her afloat. Her head is down; her eyes are closed. And Lorelei can feel nothing from her. None of his warmth resides within her, but then, neither does the raging heat of Ifrit, the ferocious tenacity of Sylph, or the cool, slow steadiness of Undine. Not even Gnome or Rem's presences make their home in her.

She lifts her head and stares at the moonlit waves about her with half-lidded eyes, and Lorelei realizes that she, too, is near death—but she responds to his presence.

_N.D. 1995: In the month of the sun, a storm shall rage off the coast of the frozen lands, _comes the echo of Yulia. _It will ruin much, and nothing shall survive that is in its path._

"What… are you?" asks the girl, hazily, squinting at the dimly-lit sea. Her voice is young. Younger than Lorelei had thought, though when he looks at her he can see the record of her short life unfold before him.

She is an entirely normal little girl. Before this, she had been happy. Perfectly unremarkable, but utterly, blissfully happy.

In that moment, Lorelei makes a decision.

_I am life, _he tells her. _You shall live._

It's a small, insignificant action. Unimportant. And for that very reason, the Score does not see one little girl wash up on the shore of a snowy island. She is unconscious, but there is a new warmth in her as she breathes in. A man with strong hands and an honest face happens upon her a few hours later, and rushes her into the local village to be examined by a doctor.

In the distance, far beyond Lorelei's reach, Shadow's interest stirs.

Lorelei recedes, lets the bonds of the pact push him back, and settles in to watch once more as he hopes against hope that this time, things will change.

* * *

"Hello, there. How are you feeling?"

A woman with closely-cropped brown hair raises her head and peers into the light of the dawn, searching for the source of the voice. There's a chuckle. A moment later, a hot drink is being pressed into her hands.

"Right here," says a man built like a bear to her left. He smiles at her as he secures his long hair in a ponytail. "You've worked hard, Wit. I am very thankful for your timely intervention."

She looks around the room curiously. It's nothing like the place she remembers passing out in. For one thing, there's no snarling monster trying to rip one of her limbs off as it dies.

The room is very clean and crisp—almost sterile—and the walls are a calm shade of yellow, nicely complementing the dark floorboards and the off-white bed sheets. There are two windows, each on a different wall, and through them she can see that the balmy weather of Port Tatarise hasn't changed one bit, despite her near-death experience.

Admittedly, a room this clean is a nice change. But still. Not what she remembers. The bandages on her arm and her torso weren't there either, last she checked. She shifts uncomfortably, resisting the urge to unwrap them and check the damages.

"We're in my home," says the man, drawing her attention. "My wife has been tending to you. I'm afraid that it's been a few days, but your body needed the time to recover."

"Well, I'm not dead," Wit notes optimistically. When she raises the cup to her mouth, she finds herbal tea. It makes her nose wrinkle.

He smiles again, a crooked curve of the lips that makes the scar across his cheek distend strangely. "If that's your brand of hope, I'd hate to see what despair looks like."

"Can't get much worse than a living hell," she tells him, setting the drink aside and trying to sit up. To her surprise, there's no pain involved in the motion. "Hmm."

"Adelaide's the best healer in this town. You're good to go," he tells her.

Wit nods. As she stands and slowly gathers her things, being gentle with her wounded arm just in case, she speaks. "I thought I recognized her. Adelaide Tatarise, the Scorer's girl?"

"She's Adelaide _Clemence_ now," comes another woman's voice, and in through the door Adelaide strides, a wide smile on her full face. Observant eyes scan Wit's figure, and Adelaide begins scribbling something on an official-looking sheet. With one hand, she gestures vaguely in the man's direction. "The Score is fortuitous indeed, bringing this bear and I together."

"Must be. He's got one hell of a right hook," is Wit's dry contribution. "Just as likely to kill the ladies as it is to captivate them."

"Ah, but that right hook saved your life," he counters, leaning back in his seat with a satisfied smirk.

"Sure did. Thanks for that, by the way."

"You saved our daughter," Adelaide says warmly. "Medical care was the least we could do."

Wit shrugs. "I was around. I probably need to get going, too—you never know where other little girls are being threatened by monsters."

"Lusa?" Adelaide raises an eyebrow at her husband.

He nods and holds up what looks like a medical chart. A cold chill goes down Wit's spine. "I finished checking the basics about twenty minutes before she woke up."

"Then let's give her an overall assessment and get that paperwork in order."

The whole process takes somewhere around fifty minutes. In that time, Wit figures out that her shoulder is stiff enough to need warming up despite the lack of pain in her forearm, Adelaide informs her that she should avoid critical battles for a few more days, at least—she didn't spend all that time closing that nasty slash in her side up for nothing—and the doctor-patient confidentiality clause that Wit spots among the piles of forms forces an audible sigh of relief out of her.

"Scorers aren't allowed access, either," Adelaide adds when she spots the paragraph that Wit's lingering on. They look at each other for a moment, silent, then away by mutual assent. Adelaide smiles, a smaller thing than before. "…Not that many come by this port since Father passed. Nothing much happens, here."

"Tatarise isn't terribly important," Lusa agrees.

Adelaide nods. "But it's nice."

"Very nice," Wit murmurs.

Another moment of silence passes.

"The Order will probably send more Knights," Wit says eventually. "I've heard that they're moving around the world. This isn't the only port they've barged into under the banner of Score-related research."

"That's good to know. We'll have to teach Ariel how to interact with them," Lusa says. His jaw tightens. "Hopefully, other Knights won't be so careless as to let children follow them to work."

"There's always hope." Adelaide's raised brow lends a sarcastic slant to her words, and with that, Wit returns to her paperwork.

It's only when they take her out for brunch at a dusty, well-worn cafe that she starts to realize just how comfortable a life Adelaide has made for herself: the moment they sit down, a waiter is serving them with a smile. He fills their cups with coffee, exchanges some friendly jabs with Lusa, and takes their order after setting up a playdate between Ariel and his own young son.

_What sort of life is it,_ Wit wonders as they talk, _when you have the opportunity to stay in one place? _

"So, you'll be heading back to Baticul soon?" Lusa asks, setting his cup down on the table. It makes a loud _crack._ Lusa smiles sheepishly. A server glances over at the loud noise, but rolls her eyes when she sees Lusa and turns back to her own business.

Wit shrugs. "I'll be stretching my muscles a bit in Tataroo Valley first, but… yes. I will, I suppose. I must."

Adelaide tilts her head. Her golden eyes hold Wit's gaze, and she raises one impeccable white eyebrow. "Well, you're welcome to stop by any time you're in the area. Even if that whole mess hadn't happened… I'm glad to know that you're alive. Let me know a little more often, eh? I think our girl will be clamoring to at least hear you if she can't see you."

Wit nods and tries not to think about how being traced to somewhere, anywhere, will be bad—for her and for them. "I'll send you a letter as soon as I return," she promises. "Should be soon—a week or two. Baticul's far, but it isn't Sheridan."

The first rule of travel is that nothing ever goes according to schedule.

* * *

Apparently, she's interrupted boar mating season.

Wit groans to herself as yet another boar charges her. She dives to the side, rolls in the tall grass, and crouches in it as the boar turns in confusion. Its hide glints against the shadows of the trees and the grey faces of the rocky walls, the dim visibility rendering its edges blurry, but its proximity is hard to miss.

What the hell did it roll in before attacking?

She sighs and starts chanting as quickly as she reasonably can. "Great shadows of the night, take my enemies in your grasp and smother them in everlasting silence. May their light be subsumed by the darkness—_Torpor!"_

The shadows of the trees, slight as they are in the brightness of the moonlight, stretch out with long fingers and twist themselves around the boar. When the boar attempts to move and finds its legs stuck, it snorts. As the shadows travel up its body it shudders once, twice, then it gives a frightened squeal, struggling as all the other boars she killed earlier did.

_Alas for this one,_ she thinks, shaking her head when the squeals abruptly cut off and the first fonons saturate its body totally. _Its death was fated—_

"Yeah, no," she says to the clearing. She laughs, brief and mirthless, as she stands and makes her way to the boar. It shudders again, muscles straining. "Not about that."

It takes a few moments, but soon enough the boar is dead. Wit regards it with some sympathy. _Your brothers served as a good test of my arm. You? You just chose the wrong person at the wrong time. Sorry, buddy._

But nothing in the wild is without a use, at least in her experience. Wrinkling her nose, Wit gets to work. It's a gruesome job, really, and the bigger the game is the worse the job gets (more material to work with, after all), but even with the gag-inducing stench she finds a decent amount of gald in its stomach and a small, dark jewel.

She makes a displeased noise when she pulls the jewel out and glares at it for a moment. After a long sigh, she puts it away and goes back to her task.

The night marches onward. Soon enough she is done, with the monster's carcass safely moved to the side to await fonic decay; a fire crackles cheerfully, she has herself a nice bowl of stew, and she sits with her back against a tree and her eyes on the entrance to the valley just a few feet away.

Her arm twinges when she moves to lift the bowl to her lips. With a grimace, she puts the bowl back down. "I already stretched you out. Stop complaining," she mutters, poking at it. She stops when the breeze changes, carrying an unusual sound with it.

"…any idea… are? You…"

_A voice,_ she decides, figuring that it's _probably_ not echoes from the mountains above. _Wonder how people got here without me seeing them? I've been here for three days…_

Whoever the owner of the voice is, they're still a fair ways off. Wit hums to herself and finishes the bowl off, setting it aside for the moment. She hadn't been planning on lingering. This, though? This might prove interesting.

Much closer by, and in the opposite direction, an awful-sounding screech heralds a dull thunk and the slamming of a carriage door. Harried footsteps follow a man's frantic curses.

Wit raises an eyebrow. All sorts of interesting things are happening tonight, it seems.

"Damn it all," comes the man's voice, and he shuffles through the mouth of the valley with his head hung low and his fists clenched. In the firelight, it's easy to see that he's a beefy sort. His clothing is loose and looks terribly comfortable—the sort that's suited for long rides. It clashes with the way his hair is carefully combed back, and she wonders if the accident (whatever it was) had woken him from his sleep.

"Hello there, stranger," Wit says to the man. He jumps and looks about until his eyes find hers, at which point he relaxes, if only slightly. Wit gestures to the pot by the fire. "If you've a bowl, you're welcome to share. Sounds like you're having a rough time of it."

He heaves a heavy sigh, though he makes no move toward the fire. "Yes, I am. To think that my birthday Score didn't foretell this trouble… What a day. I was counting on getting to Grand Chokmah by morning…"

"Definitely rough. I heard in the port to the west that a storm's forecast to hit the capital tonight. There's been all sorts of weather this year. Strange, hm?"

The art of conversation is a subtle thing, and information offered is a small measure of trust gained. He sits near the fire and sighs again, pinching the bridge of his nose. Bad news on a bad evening; Wit wonders if he would be unhappy to hear that the shadows have been longer, as of late, or that the days are short even on this sunny land-bridge awash in an eternal spring. Perhaps he will be pleased to know that the Oracle Knights are on the move, researching the matter in accordance with the Score, praying not only to Lorelei but to Yulia herself for guidance.

Perhaps. Perhaps not. He is a stranger; there is no need to tell him. Even those who reside within Daath itself tend to be blind to the inner workings of the Order of Lorelei.

Besides, she trusts the scientists more than she trusts the Order, trusts hard facts and hard work more than she trusts the decrees of fate, cold and ruthless. To say as much would be heresy, and Wit knows all too well what happens to heretics. She shifts, stretches her legs out, and the rough fabric of her shirt scrapes against puckered skin.

"Weather or no weather, I'm not sure what I'm going to do… one wheel's broken off the carriage, and it looks like someone sawed nearly through it beforehand. I can hold my own in a fight, but at this rate, I'll only make it to Engeve on foot."

Wit hums. "Would you like me to take a look at it? I work in a smithy, but I've dabbled in carpentry and repairs before. I may be able to help. If nothing else, I can tell you where to go in Port Tatarise to get it repaired."

At that the man smiles hopefully, though there's still a worried slant to his brow. "That's very kind of you, ah…"

"Wit. Pleasure to meet you…"

"Darius. Thank you very much," he says as he stands, wiping the dust off of his trousers.

Her smile is a tad wan. "Oh, don't thank me until we figure out if I can do anything. You may have to take a substantial detour."

"Even so, I'm glad there was another person here," Darius tells her. "Imagine if I'd had to eke it out alone! I'd be in poor spirits, and the attitude towards the journey makes half the difference, you know?"

Wit laughs at that. "Alright, alright. Let's take a look at your carriage."

* * *

"Luke, you can't just do that!"

"Why not? It's here, I'm hungry, and I sure as hell don't see anyone else around."

"…I can't believe it…"

"Huh? Did you say something?"

"…Nothing."

Wit tilts her head as she makes her way back to her campsite. It seems the voices she'd heard from the mountain were human voices, after all, and young ones besides.

And at least one is very rude, she notes. Darius, though understandably eager to get to Port Tatarise and repair his carriage, had at least been polite. Her lip curls. Best to do something about that—those boars were a _boar_ to harvest.

She strides back through the wide entrance and resists the urge to raise an eyebrow when her eyes fall on the mysterious owners of the voices. One girl, one boy, one Oracle Knight, one… noble? One _Fabre,_ judging by the red hair. There's only one redheaded noble family in Baticul that dresses like that.

She was right. This _will_ prove to be interesting.

"Well, well," she says, making her presence known. The boy visibly jumps while the girl merely turns, an apologetic look already taking form on her face. "What have we here? Uninvited visitors in my camp?"

"…I am so sorry, ma'am," says the girl, bowing her head. "We didn't know there was anyone here, and he saw the food, and…"

The boy tilts his head as he chews. "What kinda meat is this, lady? It's pretty good."

The girl sighs, humiliated.

Wit finds herself pitying the poor girl, who seems to be acting as the boy's minder. It's not too uncommon to see clueless nobles wandering the country, but she's only heard a grand total of five sentences from this boy and she can already tell that he's truly a force to be reckoned with.

If he is who she thinks he is, it'd make sense, but—assumptions. She knows better than to act on half-cocked presuppositions.

She shifts on her heels, keeping her hands visible in the firelight and away from the warhammer strapped across her back. "Hmm… that sure is a question. But you both seem hungry, and I've eaten already. How about this: Tell me your names, and I'll consider it payment for the food."

The boy looks baffled. "Why do we have to—ow! The hell? What was that for, you frigid—ugh!"

"My name is Tear," says the girl, bowing her head again as she moves her foot off of the boy's. "His is Luke. Thank you so much for your kindness, miss…"

"Wit. The name's Wit." She resumes her previous seat and gives Tear a sympathetic smile. "They get more fun the higher up you go in the city, huh?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Luke demands. It's somewhat less threatening than he probably intends it to be, considering that he says it through half a mouthful of broth.

Tear just shakes her head and swallows a chunk of meat. "You must be from Baticul, then? I suppose so. Personally, I didn't know that they could be this clueless…"

"Well, everyone has to learn," Wit says, eyes flicking to the brief expression of hurt on Luke's face before it's replaced by anger. "How much you have to learn just depends on upbringing, you know? Sometimes people learn more about practical things, and other times they learn more about intellectual things… or they take to the blade, disregarding all else."

"That's true. Though it can be hard to remember," Tear says, sitting near to the fire. The visible portions of her face look tired. Her lips are pulled down slightly at the corners, she gazes into the flames with a distant look, and her uncovered eye is narrowed against the force of either Luke or some internal irritation. It's hard to tell.

Blessed silence ensues as the pair consumes the last of the stew. She can't complain; the stew is going into human bellies and not the belly of the earth. With a stew as half-decent as that, it'd be a shame to have to throw it out.

Wit waits until Tear puts her bowl down, then surrenders to her curiosity and asks. "So, what brings two kids like you out here?"

One beat. Another. Luke opens his mouth. Tear's expression immediately becomes pinched.

"We lost our way—" she starts to say.

Luke looks very nearly offended at this apparent gross understatement. "It's all her fault—"

"I told you, I didn't know that would happen—"

"—Why would you even try to attack Master Van in the first place? I can't believe you—"

"—I have my reasons—"

"—You're crazy, anyways, you cold—"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on," Wit says, waving her hands. "I can tell that the story is… complicated. I won't pry. Just, if you were hoping to go to Grand Chokmah by land, there's supposed to be a big storm hitting within a day or two."

"Grand Chokmah? No… we'd like to go to Baticul," Tear says with a frown.

_Huh._ She tilts her head. "Tataroo Valley's an awfully strange place to be if you're headed to Baticul. Most people head south along the road and catch a boat from Chesedonia."

"What? Where the hell are we?" Luke crosses his arms and glares at Tear, whose lips thin with the effort of restraining herself.

"…Tataroo Valley, Luke. We're in Tataroo Valley." Tear nearly seems to force the words out.

Luke, on the other hand, makes no effort to hold himself back and rolls his eyes. "Yes, but _where_ is this?"

Tear is silent.

"You don't even know?"

"I took," Tear says, teeth gritted, "a geography course."

"Hey, now, let's not get too panicked," Wit cuts in, internally marveling at the sheer animosity roiling between the two teenagers. She rummages through her bag for a moment and brings out a well-loved, carefully-bound roll of parchment. "Everybody has to look at a map from time to time. Why don't you look at this one? It's a bit old, but it should still serve well enough."

"That would be nice. Thank you," Tear says, spreading the parchment out carefully on the ground. "Luke, we're here." She points at a spot near the middle of the map. "If we want to get back to Baticul, we'll need to follow this route."

Luke gazes on with lidded eyes as Tear plots a course on the map. _Half-interested_ would perhaps be too charitable a description, Wit decides. "Sure, whatever. As long as you know where we're going."

"…I should be able to get us back, yes."

"How about I help you out?" Wit offers as Tear hands the map back to her. She keeps to herself the suspicion that the two of them together couldn't keep a route straight if they tried, instead choosing to put the map away and face them with a smile. "I've been at this traveling thing for a fair while, and it's about time for me to report back to my smithy in Baticul. It's always nice to have extra hands when you're on the road."

"She's one thing, but _you?"_ Luke asks with a scowl.

Wit smiles at him. It's a _nice_ smile. "I cook. Do you?"

"…Fine, whatever."

"We'd be grateful for your assistance," Tear says, relief shining through in her voice. "Please take care of us. I would like to leave as soon as possible…"

"Then that's what we'll do. Let's work well together," Wit says, getting to her feet.

"Just don't get yourself hurt. Her healing artes _will only go so far,"_ Luke mutters. He ignores the look that Tear shoots in his direction.

* * *

Colonel Jade Curtiss considers himself to be a fairly level-headed man in most circumstances—perhaps too level-headed, by some standards, because his calm as he tilts his head to the side to avoid a very large scythe that whistles through the air in his direction has some of his newer men shooting him terrified looks.

Hm. Not preferable. He'd picked those recruits himself. If they can't handle seeing strange things in tense situations, they won't survive very long.

"Largo the Black Lion," he says, stance crisp, posture perfect. He makes a gesture with his fingers to Kain behind his back, and his aide disappears into the interior of the Tartarus. When the young man is gone, Jade's fingers remain crooked. "To what do I owe the pleasure of such a greeting?"

Largo's chuckle is rather dark. "Word has it that you've kidnapped our Fon Master. It's the duty of every Oracle Knight to defend him—and that includes rescuing him from the clutches of the Necromancer, if need be."

Jade smiles. Largo smiles. Why wouldn't they? After all, it only makes sense. A lost Fon Master would certainly need to be recovered, and who better to go after him than the God-Generals? It all seems so simple. Clear-cut. A truth bathed in black and white.

It only makes sense. Doesn't it?

Jade's arte explodes under Largo's feet. Largo leaps back and smiles in thanks as his scythe is dropped back into his hand by a winged monster. He gears himself up for a charge, then cocks his head and instead leaps back again—and just in time. Bullets whistle through the air. Jade throws himself to the side and hurls his spear at the highest arch of the Tartarus's deck. As the spear reaches the highest point of its trajectory, a blond woman with two pistols is forced to leap from her perch and land behind Largo.

He calls his spear back into his arm and readies himself for another strike—

The sixth fonon swirls in the air, actualizing itself, manifesting with an impressive degree of strength. It creates a barrier between Jade and the enemy while a teenager with pink hair and a stuffed animal clutched in her arms leaps off of a liger and dashes to Largo's side.

"We can't find the Fon Master," says the older woman to Largo, keeping a careful gun trained on Jade. That's fine. The sixth fonons are interfering with the gradual explosion of fifth fonons he's been building under their feet, and while they won't stop his spear, to incite further hostilities than is needed would be wasteful.

The teenager stomps her foot. "That Anise probably took him away when we boarded!"

_Anise may be playful, but she follows orders,_ Jade thinks to himself, eyeing his opponents just as they are eyeing him. _By now, she will have. Though it's probable that the lower levels have been invaded—unless Kain managed to get to the bridge in time. _

He has no time to hope. If he wants any, he'll have to create it. The wood grain of the deck feels hot underneath his feet; the sun beats down on his hair. He ought to have tied it back before this whole mess began, but these guests were somewhat unexpected.

Somewhat. That's the key word here. Perhaps it's more accurate to say he expected them to come along at a later time.

From the interior, he hears the screams of men, both of his and of the men belonging to the Oracle Knights. Kain will need to initiate the secondary plan, then. Shame.

But his larger concern, at the moment, is navigating this situation with all the finesse required to pull off the new plan brewing in his mind. He's certainly more than capable of improvisation. The only thing is that at the level of secrecy required by this mission, he'll have to take care to lay all the false tracks he can.

"Calm, Arietta. Legretta. The ship has been searched?" Largo asks.

"We're getting there," Legretta mutters, glancing at Jade with a clear wariness that makes him want to sigh.

She's heard of him. She'll know what to expect, then.

"Lovely as this little party is, I can't say I entirely approve of my staff being killed off as-is when I've invested so much effort into them," Jade says, even-faced. "I'm afraid you'll need to leave. We're quite busy, after all, and such gross accusations belong elsewhere. There is no kidnapped Fon Master here."

Largo laughs at that. "Aren't you the crafty one? We'll have to see—_damn!"_

Jade lets the arte go and doesn't stop to pay attention to the explosion. It doesn't matter if they manage to dodge; the particular combination of first and fifth fonons serves to create a spectacular smoke-screen, which he uses to dash into the interior of the Tartarus and slam his fist into the nearest alarm. He quickly shuts the door with a series of inputs on the nearby console, then makes his way through the dimly-lit corridors to the nearest voice command module.

He breathes in, then out. It's not a calming gesture. He's calm. He's just taking a moment to account for all the different variables that can and will result from this. "By my name as Necromancer, heed my command," he says into the module. "Initiate emergency plan 'Corpse Hunt'. Ah… and 'Fonic Embrace', as well."

As the lights power down, first fonons flood the Tartarus, and he makes his way to the exit route in his quarters, he smiles.

Searching for the Fon Master, are they? They'll have to escape from Tartarus first, and when they do that, they'll find themselves in St. Binah.

It's really quite a shame that there will be no one left to guide them out.

Colonel Jade Curtiss has a contingency plan for every situation, and backup plan upon backup plan for that. He hasn't found the source of the fonic disturbance in Tataroo Valley, nor has he gotten Fon Master Ion to Baticul, but he will.

Just as soon as Kain and Anise catch up with a very determined Fon Master and the "mercenary" in his company headed for Chesedonia.

* * *

**This is an edited version of this story. I had it up a few years previous, but I've only just now gotten around to finishing up edits! The first chapter is being posted on a Wednesday, but this fic will update on Fridays.**


	2. Chapter 2

The road, Wit finds, is far noisier than she's used to with company. The sorts she bandies about with tend to be more taciturn. Mercenary, even.

In contrast, both of her new companions are full of things to say—even Tear, surprisingly enough, though mostly in relation to Luke's unparalleled verbal output.

Her eyes drift to the side and she smiles wryly. Luke is full of questions. He asks some of them. He thinks he doesn't ask most of them, but his habit of mumbling to himself while writing in his journal is not exactly conducive to secrecy.

Tear, on the other hand, spends a great deal of time lost in thought when she's not being provoked by Luke. On occasion, she'll look at him with an absent frown and stare into the distance; at other times, she'll stare at her feet as she walks, silent and troubled.

That state of affairs, of course, discounts all their many and varied arguments—the ones that spring out of what sounds like a mutual misunderstanding and disdain.

She's still not quite sure about the particulars of what, exactly, happened between them, or why Luke fon Fabre seems to be among the most clueless members of the upper crust in Baticul, but what's clear to see is that it irks Tear like no other, and Luke isn't so much disdainful of her personally as he is what she apparently tried to do to a man named Van. He only brings it (and his apparent apprenticeship to the man) up at every possible opportunity, which has her incredibly curious, because Wit only knows of one man with that name who could possibly move about freely in the nobles' levels in Baticul. If it's the same Van she'd seen fight off successive waves of monsters in Engeve a month ago, well, her life is certainly getting interesting.

Tear, if Luke is to be believed, tried to kill _Commandant Van Grants_, leader of the Oracle Knights.

Well, then. Something big really _is_ going on in the world if someone so clearly situated in the Grand Maestro's faction decided to take legitimate action against the man with the most power in the Order—but why Tear, who wears the robes of a Melodist and wields the staff of a Locrian Sergeant? What could drive her to make such a suicidal move?

Wit considers this as she sips her coffee and watches Tear teach Luke how to recognize when an arte is being cast. The innkeeper had raised an eyebrow when she'd asked if there was a flat, relatively clear field anywhere nearby, but had let them use the inn's yard regardless. Passerby keep giving the three of them curious glances. Some of the children of the village had been watching earlier, but Luke had gotten embarrassed and threw a bit of a fit, scaring them off. He's calmer now, but not by much.

"Luke, _listen,"_ Tear says, frustration crossing her face. "I'm trying to _help_ you. If you learn this, you can heal yourself and us the next time we tangle with a monster like the one in the woods."

"I still shouldn't have to," Luke mutters, kicking the ground with his foot. He hasn't been able to draw fonons in with the efficiency a boy his age should be capable of; to Wit's eyes, it's almost like he's hardly used his fon slots. Strange, considering that he's apparently a seventh fonist and the Order highly encourages the training of all seventh fonists regardless of membership status. Surely things can't be _that_ different in Baticul's upper levels. "It's stupid. I don't need it."

"Very well. Think of it like this: even if you don't need it, we might. What happens when you're the only one left standing on the battlefield, Luke? Things happen. Battle is chaos. Even the best soldier is going to get dropped sometimes, and when that happens, they need to have someone on their side who can heal them—if not revive them." Tear crosses her arms. Her spine is a rigid line of tension and her lips are pulled taut with annoyance.

Wit finds her level of tolerance impressive. Luke looks at her with wide eyes, dumbstruck by the sudden severity and danger in her voice.

"If you want to be angry at the world, do so on your own time," Wit contributes, doing her level best to keep her face and her voice neutral. "Selfishness has no place in combat. Get us killed by being unable to help when we need it and you'll have to find your way back to Baticul yourself."

Luke looks horrified. Wit finds herself frowning. He is only a boy, after all, and he's a soft, untested boy who's never had to do a thing for himself in his life. As far as she knows.

That, she thinks, is the key. _As far as she knows._ All the signs point to it, but all the signs also point to his complete lack of consideration for others having a deeper root than mere complacence. Who knows? The fon Fabre family was known for its warriors, last she checked, but the status quo as far as they're concerned doesn't seem to have held true for the current generation. While Luke certainly has potential, he is deeply lacking in finesse of any sort.

"…Exactly. You don't have to fight, if you can't take it. We're capable of protecting you. But soldiers can't allow for liabilities. So, what will you do?" Tear asks.

Luke is silent for a long while.

"…I'll fight," he says eventually, looking at both of them with an earnest expression that Wit hasn't seen on his face before. His fingers twitch toward his hair; he stills them by curling them into fists. "I won't be a burden. I'll learn this. Just tell me what I need to do."

After a tense moment, Tear nods. "Alright. First, you need to understand that seventh fonons are incredibly important because they make up the building blocks of life…"

Two more days until they reach Chesedonia. Wit stares into the dark liquid in her cup, thoughts bent on the shadows, the green-haired boy among the passerby she'd pointedly ignored earlier, and the double-take he'd done when he'd seen Luke.

_I have a bad feeling about this, _she thinks, and glances up. Despite his best efforts, Luke's face has already gone vacant.

_…Called it._

* * *

The setting sun casts the plains on either side of the road in fierce shades of golden reds and oranges, and the grass stretches out in the wind blowing in from the desert on the other side of Chesedonia, painted a dull sienna by dust and the darkening sky. Wit glances out to the left, where the horizon sits just above the cliff line, and smiles. The ocean stands tall in the distance—indomitable as ever. From the road, it's impossible to tell how choppy the waves are.

_A shame,_ she thinks, turning back to the path ahead of them. _I would've liked to see how rough the water is before we set out from the port._

"Is that the ocean?" Luke asks, having followed her line of sight. "It looks… different. From Baticul, I mean," he adds, a tad too quickly.

"You think so?" She nods in the direction of Chesedonia, where dark shapes are visible in the waters. "Might be the way the city looks. The port is in the lower areas over there. We'll probably find an inn and rest for the night, restock on supplies in the morning, and find a ship to Baticul after that. It'll be nice to get a bit of a break from all the fighting."

"It will, yes," Tear says. She had bowed to the need to escape the heat at about noon and pulled her hair up into a ponytail; more of her face is visible, revealing the clear blue of both her eyes and the exhaustion in them.

Luke glances at Tear. He doesn't seem to notice anything amiss. "I thought you liked fighting."

"I'm a soldier. Fighting is my duty… I don't necessarily enjoy it," is all Tear says with a shrug of the shoulders, weary from both the long day and the many, many times she'd been forced to sing what Wit suspects is a Yulian fonic hymn.

Even the monsters have been uneasy about the world lately. There's little else to explain the skittishness and the odd behavior that's been present in so many of their encounters with them on the road-monsters that she's never seen outside of a pack, like the chimeraelings usually found north of Engeve, were practically throwing themselves into battle on the road south out of Port Tatarise. It had gotten Luke a crash course in the effects of mild poisons, but to see chimeraelings so far out of their natural habitat on their own? Unheard of.

Luke kind of humphs, unimpressed, and turns back to the road. "What sort of city is Chesedonia, anyways? It looks dirty, except for that shiny place over there."

"That'd be Aston's mansion," Wit says. "He's a merchant. He made Chesedonia what it is today… a successful city-state sponsored by the Order of Lorelei. The city is the center for most of the world's trade because of its independence, and there are many ways to disappear into its depths, if need be."

"Huh? That sounds creepy!" Luke's expression is almost comical. He looks at the city with new eyes. "I could disappear in there?"

"I wouldn't recommend trying it," Wit warns with a little smile. The implication earns her a scowl.

Tear nods, looking thoughtful. "In the course of my studies, I've been told that it's rough going. The ones who would help you do that don't take too kindly to nobles of any sort, thanks to a minor diplomatic spat that happened a few years ago. Something about a Malkuthian nobleman and a Kimlascan lady?"

"The nobleman's son was actually Kimlascan," Wit comments. "The story always gets mixed up. According to a friend of mine who was there at the time, they fell in love, to the displeasure of their respective communities. The son got himself killed in a local fight for her honor."

Tear hums in acknowledgment of the new information. She pauses, then forges ahead. "And… the girl?"

"She lived, but she moved to Malkuth at some point afterward. Last I knew, anyways. Regardless of the exact facts, the way the boy's father handled the situation was… less than tactful. It took a representative from the Order of Lorelei and a reading of the Score to calm him down and keep him from trying to take action against the girl, and the community had a rough time of it while those proceedings were going on. They had far more attention than they wanted."

"That's all too complicated, and they sound stupid anyways," Luke says dismissively. "I just want to get to an inn and sleep already…"

Wit and Tear exchange an exceedingly dry glance. "Give it time," Wit advises, not quite able to prevent a hint of sarcasm from leaking into her tone.

Tear reaches back and adjusts her ponytail. "We have to keep walking to get there."

"I know that! What do you think I am—stupid?" Luke asks with a profound look of derision. He starts moving ahead of the two women. "Come on. If we walk faster, we'll get to an inn faster, right?"

"Sure," Wit decides. Tear quietly shakes her head.

* * *

Fon Master Ion may look like a stiff breeze could and would blow him over in the wind, but when it comes down to it, he's one of the most determined people Guy has ever met.

It'd been a strange set of circumstances that had led to the meeting itself, really, which seems only fitting—it isn't every day your dumbass friend teleports himself halfway across the world and you get sent to retrieve him, like he's some sort of lost pet.

Guy catches himself in the thought—_hey, it's not quite like that,_ he reminds himself, striding from the village gates as the Fon Master trots beside him. _Luke was going to be out of the mansion in a few years anyways, and I put that sort of bitterness aside for his sake._

_Even if I still wanted it, holding onto it wouldn't help. 'You can't move forward if you keep looking back', right?_

He knows that now, though a few years ago, he wouldn't have seen the point. But bitter or not bitter, he'd still been sent to retrieve Luke, so off he'd gone to where Van had suspected the hyper-resonance (damn the uncertainty Van had tried to convince him he had, Guy's done enough reading to know what a hyper-resonance is supposed to look like—_and_ also known him long enough to tell when he's lying through his teeth) had taken him and Mystearica. He's heard stories about her for years, but that day in the manor was the first time he actually _saw _her.

_What a meeting,_ he thinks dryly.

There was nothing in Tataroo Valley to suggest that Luke had been around, which was disappointing with how much effort Guy had put into getting there quickly.

It just... felt a little uncool.

Luckily, his visit to the local port across from the valley had revealed that yes, there was a strange red-headed boy with two companions who had come through, and yes, he was absolutely clueless until his companions—both women, one older, one younger—had informed him about the basics of economic exchange.

Nobody knew where they were headed to, though a local doctor guessed that they'd be going to Baticul. Apparently she knew the older woman. Nice, quiet, saved her daughter a while back.

"Your friend is in good hands," the woman told him, a smile in her golden eyes. "Wit tries hard to live up to her words."

_Who names their child 'Wit'?_ Guy wondered to himself. The thought immediately reminded him of Luke, who would totally ask something like that and piss the wrong person off, so he thanked her for the information and absconded.

He ultimately decided to try to catch a coach to Chesedonia… and that was when Ion had quite literally tumbled into him, taking them both down.

"Guy?" Ion says, drawing his attention. Ion looks down. "My apologies for forcing you to take the long road. I know you were planning to take a coach when I ran into you…"

_Man, kids these days. _Guy smiles and shakes his head. "No worries, Ion, though I appreciate the thought. I was free to refuse Jade's offer. I didn't refuse because as far as I can tell, you're right. It would be worse if my friend got himself tangled up in all this business before I found him, and I've got a feeling that he's headed for the same place we are, you know? He wouldn't know where else to go."

"Your friend sounds like a very interesting person," Ion says, smiling, and there's something about him that tells Guy that he actually means it.

Guy hums a bit, feeling more optimistic about the journey that seems to lie ahead all of them. If Luke has more than one person he can get along with, it'll be much less of a pain to travel with him. "Well, interesting is one word for it… hey, let me know if you get tired, okay? I'm more than capable of carrying you."

"Oh, I don't want to be more of a bother," Ion insists.

"You're not a bother. I decided to help you of my own free will, remember? There's no need to try and be cool." It's a gentle needling, but Ion's face goes a little pink anyways. Poor kid isn't Luke by any means. Makes sense. Since he's the Fon Master and all, he's probably not used to a bit of good-natured ribbing. "Everyone is made differently; we all have different strengths. The kind of power you wield doesn't need a sword to be effective, and personally, I think that's pretty valuable itself. It may not be much, coming from someone you just met, but that's how I see it."

His words seem to get through to Ion; his head tilts as he absorbs the information, and the tight smile gentles into something a little less embarrassed. "Thank you, Guy," Ion says eventually. "You're very kind."

Sometimes, when people say things like that, Guy wonders what they'd think of him if they knew what he'd done as a young, angry teen. "Hey, don't worry about it. Let's see how far we can get today, alright? When I was in Chesedonia last, I heard that a sandstorm was going to hit. It wouldn't be fun to get caught up in that."

At that, Ion frowns. "That's odd. I hadn't heard anything about it in the cathedral…"

"Oh? Maybe it's the Planet Storm again," Guy says, tone light, glancing up at the sky. It's a clear blue as far as the eye can see, with the fonstones floating faintly in the atmosphere, the sun shining brightly overhead, and absolutely nothing to indicate that there'll be inclement weather any time soon. Part of that is that they're still a ways away from Chesedonia (the ocean isn't even in view yet), but the other part… Pere's kept his ear to the ground in their time in service to the Fabre household, and when Guy had left, the last news from their old friends was that the Order was dispatching research teams not only across Auldrant, but specifically to the Absorption and Radiation Gates. "Hasn't it been acting a little funny recently? There's been some out-of-season storms in Baticul, the past few months."

"Perhaps that's it," Ion murmurs, shifting the staff of his office from his right hand to his left. He seems troubled.

Guy finds that he can't blame him.

* * *

"A storm, a sandstorm… what's the difference?" Wit asks a shadow in the alleyway next to the inn, mindful of the way that the sky has begun to darken to brown instead of the orange of a desert evening. She shakes her head. "I'd leave soon, if I were you. There won't be much room for dancing, not with this sandstorm." Her hand tightens on the nondescript letter in her pocket. "Or with the storm of Knights that's come through recently."

Laughter sounds from the shadows, low and smooth. "My, are you worried about us, dear Wit? You might've made quite the Knight yourself; you're looking quite handsome right now, you know."

"I'm just keeping it short for convenience," Wit says, rolling her eyes at the pointed glance in the direction of her hair. She resists the urge to finger the choppy brown strands at her neck. There's no point in adding fuel to the fire. The woman she's talking to has a penchant for teasing the unwary, and Wit's walked into enough of her verbal traps to know very well what will come if she gives in to the bait offered. Noir's running theory has always been something along the lines of _well, if you're going to call yourself Wit, you might as well be deserving of the name, hon._

Nosy, nosy. She's not one of Noir's flock, not really. Not in the ways that matter.

"That so? It suits you. Grim… mysterious… you'll break someone's heart if you're not careful." Noir smiles at the way Wit shifts. "It's nice to see you like that sometimes. You're too serious, you know? Kinda like someone else I know…" A beat passes. Wit does her best not to react. Noir sighs and shakes her head. "I'll be seeing you later, hon. Same time?"

She nods. "Thank you, Noir. I appreciate it."

"Appreciate it by coming by and playing with the kids again sometime," Noir tosses back at her, already sashaying down the alleyway to where York and Urushi are waiting. "They miss you."

"I'll think about it," Wit calls after her. "I've got a feeling I won't have time for a while…"

"Excuses, excuses."

With that, the Dark Wings fade into the shadows, leaving Wit standing alone, staring into the alley, a letter in her hand and foreboding in her heart.

"Wit?"

The voice comes from behind. She turns and her heart nearly seizes in her chest.

"Oh, good," says the green-haired boy from the village, leaning heavily on his staff. His very ornate, official-looking staff that confirms all the suspicions she had the last time she saw him. He looks winded, and for a moment a bizarre thought strikes her—_surely he couldn't have run the whole way here?_—before it's swept away in the ensuing flood of alarm bells ringing in her mind. "That _is_ your name. I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but your friends wanted you to come inside before the storm hits. I volunteered to come get you…" He trails off and coughs, covering it with his arm.

He pulls away too quickly for her to be sure, but she thinks she sees flecks of red.

"Sure," Wit says, a tad bewildered and privately more than a little suspicious as she tucks her letter away. Even if he is staying incognito in the same inn you're staying in, you don't just tell the _Fon Master, _religious authority of all the known world, to fetch a companion. But here Ion stands with a gentle smile, waiting for her to come in, and niceties get you further in life than bared teeth. Doing her best not to let the panic in her veins show on her face, she bows her head lightly. "My apologies… may I ask what your name is?"

"Ion," he says. Smiles again, like the name itself doesn't resonate with fonons and whispers of foundations and secrets.

"Ion, then. Nice to meet you. I have to admit, I'm a tad curious… Might I ask why you volunteered?"

"Well, you see… your friends are having a little argument…" Watching him, she _thinks_ his smile grows a little strained. It's gone too quickly for her to be sure. He's good. "I tried to calm them down, but it seems the matter can only be solved with advice from someone much older than I. They did want you to come inside because of the storm, but I thought maybe you could also help, ah, resolve the issue. I don't think they'll listen to anything I have to say like this."

"Ah… that again. My apologies." Wit sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. She can already see what must've happened: Luke said something insensitive to Tear, who gave him a dry look and a reprimand. Luke got offended over her correction and quickly descended into lobbying personal accusations at Tear, who would have at first tried to let it go but ultimately let herself be provoked to a response when Luke started in on what Wit is now sure is the account of how they ended up transported halfway across the world from Baticul. Luke just can't let it go, it seems.

"They're very interesting," Ion says, rather diplomatically.

Wit's smile is wry as she holds the door open for him. "That's one word for it."

* * *

"So…"

"So," Guy says, sitting backwards on the lone chair in Luke's room. With only lamplight and dim brown outside to light the room, it's hard to tell if there's any real color to the wood at all—the varnish is some sort of indiscriminate dark brown. The bog-standard maple-colored varnish he's seen in carpentry workshops, if he had to guess. He knows this because he's been sitting here for the past five minutes, waiting for Luke to finish up with his lesson.

His lesson on fonic artes.

_Hmm. _

Guy tilts his head. They've only been back in each other's company for a day or so, stuck in the inn as the sandstorm hit overnight, but they've only been aware that they booked the same inn for about eight hours. In that time, Luke has managed to start three arguments and throw one hissy fit. "Had fun on your little adventure?"

Luke scowls up at the ceiling and uncrosses his arms from behind his head in order to cross them over his chest.

_Tantrum incoming, _Guy thinks, bracing himself. Luke's scowl isn't an uncommon sight around the manor, but there's an angry light in his eyes and a shadow beneath his frown that belies the stress of the bewildering journey he's had so far. He stopped feeling sorry about Luke's idiosyncrasies long ago, but this is a little bit more than the natural consequences of Luke being obnoxious coming back to bite him in the ass.

"This whole thing has been terrible! Two weird women with brown hair boss me around from the middle of nowhere to halfway to somewhere. One tried to kill Master Van and the other is quiet and weird and gives you this look when you voice your opinion like you've just kicked her dog or something! Nobody gives you a straight explanation! I'm tired and sore and my whole body hurts, except it's not just my body but my _mind,_ and I'm still having those damn headaches…"

"Really?" Guy asks, taking care not to appear too sharp, too interested. Van had mentioned once, offhandedly, that there would be side effects from the procedure—_what_ side effects exactly he'd never bothered to mention, and Guy hadn't ever been able to find an answer, despite wondering at some of the things that happened when he'd been caring for the newly-returned Luke. Like his eyes flashing gold, for one.

He still wonders about that, but he kind of hopes he never finds the answer. That's one of the freakier memories he can recall.

"Yeah." Luke rubs his knuckles into the furrow between his brows. He sighs, all the anger and edgy irritation seeming to drain right out of him, leaving behind a very young, very exhausted teenager. "Man… this is lame. I want to get back home already…"

"Well, you can't do much about a sandstorm," Guy points out with a shrug. "Even with the Planet Storm, you can't control the weather. Think of it like how the out-of-house maids can't make it to the manor on typhoon days. They're always back when the typhoon is over, you know?"

"I should be able to go back _now. _This shouldn't have happened in the first place," Luke grumbles, but he's tired enough that there's only a little bit of heat in it. He's struggling not to drift off.

Guy stands. "I should let you sleep, huh? You've had a long few weeks."

To his surprise, Luke shakes his head and sits up. "Nah… stay for a while. No stuffy old guy's here to kick you out."

Huh. Now there's something that almost sounds like sentiment. It seems like Luke has already started to change, even if he hasn't noticed. Guy sits back down and sends Luke a quick smile, and even though the kid doesn't exactly return it, the fainthearted half-smirk definitely counts as an effort considering the mood he's in.

"Hey, I've got an idea. Why don't you tell me what you've seen so far?" Guy suggests, resisting the urge to just lean his head on his arms and take a nap himself. It's been a long few days, and it's been a very long time since Guy traveled anywhere. The stress on his body seems determined to manifest now, but it'd be better if he could just keep smiling, both to calm Luke down and to put everyone else at ease. It's not easy being stuck inside any one place for a couple of days—

Oh. _Oh._

_That's pretty damn ironic_, he thinks._ "Stuck inside any one place"—like Luke has always been stuck in the manor._

That can't be helping the situation.

Luke frowns. "Can't you just read it all in my journal like you always do?"

"Let's just say I'd prefer to hear it, not read it. It's been a while, you know." Guy keeps his smile firm. He doesn't relish going through Luke's personal thoughts in order to figure out whether he's going to have a relapse, if because he knows that a relapse is quite literally impossible, but Luke's nonchalance about it sends a little sliver of guilt straight into his heart. Kids shouldn't have to be required to record their days for later psychological examination.

"Eh… Whatever. It's a pain, but I'll do it."

Guy resists the urge to raise his eyebrows at the easy compliance. Even he's never fully safe from Luke's quick temper. "Well, let's hear it. Or are you planning to fall asleep in the middle of the day?"

"Bah, it wouldn't change anything. Alright. So it started that day, right before you came to visit me…"

* * *

It takes five minutes of staring at the unopened letter before she actually manages to convince herself to break the seal on it.

_This is ridiculous,_ Wit thinks, eyes flicking to the dwindling candlelight and Tear's inert form on the bed opposite hers. _It's just a letter. _

A very _useful_ letter, but a piece of paper nonetheless. It only determines the next step—nothing big, not really…

The edges of her mouth curl at that. Nothing terribly important. _Right_.

Still, she finds that she can admit (at least to herself) that the truth of the matter is less that the letter is going to change her course for at least the next six months and more that she'll have to sit in this inn with a bratty noble, a certified Melodist who apparently tried to kill the Commandant, a gynophobic man, and the bloody Fon Master of the Order of Lorelei for the next few days without being able to do anything about the information contained in the letter.

She isn't sure what's worse for her health: being stuck in a building with the Fon Master or being stuck in a building with Luke fon Fabre. It naturally follows that she would end up stuck in a building with both of them.

Tear shifts in her sleep, murmuring incoherent nothings that hover just below hearing level. Wit stares at the letter some more, debating the merits of singing the edges with the candle.

_Just open it, _she tells herself, tired of building it up in her head. With a swift motion she breaks the seal and draws the letter from the envelope; her eyes seize on the _dear Wit_ that the letter starts with as if the phrase, normal as it is, will answer all her questions in one fell stroke. An amused noise escapes her when she notices her own silliness. She stops, breathes in, and breathes out—_one, two, three. Slowly, now. There you go._

"…Huh," she says out loud as she reads it, glad that Tear is a heavy sleeper. _"Huh."_

Aran Adami is a man with connections. She's known it for as long as she's worked for the man; for a simple blacksmith, he has a lot of _friends _who know things that aren't exactly common knowledge. The Dark Wings—Noir in particular—are prime examples of that.

Wit has never gotten an explanation for the exact nature of the Dark Wings' relation to Aran, but she's got her suspicions. Especially considering what little she knows of Aran's life before he settled in Baticul. A wandering adventurer, a soldier of fortune; such a romantic, noncommittal spin on such a long life can only hint at secrets important enough to be buried in the past he left behind.

Even with that in mind, though, this letter is… a bit much. Aran wants her to return to Baticul as quickly as she can to discuss the deals she's worked out with the smithy's customers and suppliers—but more important than the instructions and the remarks about old friends he wants her to meet is the message he's spelling out between the lines: the Order has officially declared its Fon Master missing and would very much like him back. The Commandant is searching even now, starting near the Malkuthian border, but a few God-Generals are caught up in some business near St. Binah.

_Be careful,_ Aran warns her. Like it's_ easy_ to avoid entanglements with Oracle Knights.

And Ion just so happens to show up in Chesedonia with Luke's servant in tow, claiming he has a very important mission to fulfill and that he must go to Baticul. Wit sighs. _Something is afoot; that much is evident. I've known that for long enough that it isn't surprising._

She frowns, setting the letter down on her lap and brushing her thumb over the scar below her lip. _I guess it's more the confirmation. The Order is definitely experiencing internal strife over something that drove the Fon Master to, well, go rogue. Ion mentioned wanting to talk to the three of us about something in the morning, and apparently Luke's servant—Guy?—is already involved in some capacity. Ion's a nice boy, but more than that, he's looking more and more like a shrewd political leader… one who actually wants to use his power well. So maybe, just maybe…_

The thought that begins to take shape in her mind shakes her to her core. She stares at the dimly-lit wall, beyond which Luke, Guy, and Ion sleep, and hears nothing but the beating of her heart and Tear's soft snores.

_…I should go to bed,_ she decides, shaking her head. _And see what the Fo—what Ion has to say in the morning. I'll decide based on that._

Even so, she stares at the wall for far too long before sleep finally takes her.


	3. Chapter 3

Tear wakes up early.

Or, at least, she _thinks_ she wakes up early. The faint rattling of sand against the windowpanes and the dull, muddy brown of the world outside fail to corroborate what her internal clock is telling her. The light-what little there is of it-is weak and filtered through who knows how many tons of sand. She breathes out and then in, long and slow, like she's preparing to warm her voice up.

Instead of opening her mouth, she sighs through her nose and turns on her side. Wit is still asleep, and the scar that tugs at the bottom of her lip strikes Tear as being at odds with the relaxed set of Wit's brows and the slow rise and fall of her chest.

Tear can't claim to have met many people, considering how prior to this she'd spent most of her life in Yulia City. Everyone had known her. She was the mayor's granddaughter, after all. Still, in the days since they made the decision to travel together, Tear's gotten the impression that Wit is rather strange. Among other things, how many people keep a black, high-collared, long-sleeved shirt on without breaking a sweat in the _desert,_ of all places?

_A soldier has to be in full uniform when they're on official business, Tear, whether they like it or not. This is the way of the world. Mercenaries will often keep to this rule as well. It's professionalism—and a way to identify them. _Legretta's voice echoes in her memory, as warm as Legretta had ever known how to be.

Which... isn't much, all things considered, but Tear misses her nonetheless. Especially given the circumstances, she finds herself wishing for her mentor's presence more than ever before. Legretta would probably be able to handle this situation with far more grace and efficiency—but then, Legretta never would have gotten herself into this situation in the first place, because she never would have gone against Van.

_Van._

The corners of Tear's lips turn down without her permission. What is Van thinking? What is he _doing?_

_No… what is Van aiming for?_ Tear thinks, heart clenching. _What is he working towards without telling me? I understand that he's been busy… but what I've heard, what I can see with my own eyes… something is going on. _

And when she'd learned about his plan, even the little she pieced together sounded ominous. So she'd tried to kill him. Van. Her _brother. _The Commandant of the Order of Lorelei.

Legretta often spoke of his plans to have Tear become his second-in-command. The thought made her flush with joy—with meaning, with _purpose, _with the idea that her brother _needed _her, that he wouldn't leave her behind—but now, it only leaves her cold. He has been off on undisclosed "official business" and sending the God-Generals on unofficial missions and gaining more and more control over the internal workings of the Order; he has butted heads with the Grand Maestro more and more openly, something he never would have done before she graduated from her training.

He is making himself known. Seen. Heard. And yet nobody seems to know what he wants to _do. _Even though she only has an inkling, that little inkling, well…

…_That's duty, isn't it? Duty. Loyalty. _Tear closes her eyes. _I'm his responsibility… but he's my brother. We're family. That makes me responsible for him, too. So… no matter how it makes me feel… I have to…_

A knock sounds on the door. Wit jolts awake, head swiveling to the door, but after a moment she relaxes and meets Tear's gaze.

_It's Guy, _Wit mouths.

"Hello?" comes Guy's voice, sure enough. "Sorry to disturb you…"

"We're awake," Wit calls, and winces at the way her voice creaks. "Just give us a few minutes, yeah?"

"Oh, no, it's nothing urgent. Just thought you might want to know that breakfast is ready. Luke's already eating."

"I'd call that urgent," Wit mutters. Tear stifles a laugh. Wit's eyes flick towards her with a small smile, and she raises her voice again. "Thanks, Guy. We'll be down there soon."

"See you there, then," says Guy, and there is the sound of footsteps fading away from the hallway beyond the door.

For a beat, there is silence. Then— "Been up very long?"

Tear shrugs. "I can't tell."

Wit glances at the window and a shadow passes over her face; it's gone before Tear can get a good read on her, but not fast enough to have gone unnoticed. Wit smiles again at her as she sits up and shoves the thin cover sheet to the bottom of the bed. "Well, it looks like it'll be a while before the storm blows over. Take your time. I'm going to sneak into the kitchen and see if I can get the chef to serve some coffee."

"Thanks," Tear says, feeling somewhat stilted in the face of Wit's warm charm. "And… good luck."

It earns her a chuckle as Wit runs a small brush through her hair, then bends down and shuffles through her bag. "I'll need it. She's one of those curmudgeonly types."

"Oh, really? I didn't think she was unfriendly…"

"No, but she did sort of _harrumph _when Guy complimented her cooking last night. Not the easiest to please," Wit says, finally pulling out a small, leather-bound journal and a larger, plain-covered book from her bag. "You've got to strike a careful balance when dealing with that kind of thing."

_Right, okay,_ Tear thinks with a raised eyebrow. "Sure."

A knowing smile. She has rather a lot of smiles, Tear's noticed. Another strange thing. She's never met anyone who uses a smile to say so many different things. "See you later. Don't forget—Ion wants to talk to everyone later."

The door closes behind her before Tear remembers to respond; she stares instead at the empty room, frowns, and sits up to light the lamp on the table between the two beds. _I need to wake up. This sort of fogginess is unacceptable for a soldier… Legretta would remind me of that the moment she learned of this. _

Tear shakes her head, for a moment disappointed in herself, and sets about to beginning the day.

* * *

When Wit emerges from the kitchen with a steaming mug of coffee, it takes her a moment longer than usual to spot Luke's bright red hair—he's half bent over his journal, seated at a corner table, with his empty breakfast plates pushed to the side. She takes a step forward, intent on providing him with some quiet company, but the floorboards beneath her feet protest loudly at her weight.

Luke jumps, slamming the journal shut with a panicked yelp.

_Okay, _she thinks as he scowls at her. _Maybe I don't need to be lugging my hammer around on my back when I'm at an inn._

His face is quickly flushing pink—meaning an outburst is soon to follow, and she knows for a fact that the other unlucky souls who'd gotten stuck in the inn alongside her group are still asleep.

"Good morning, Luke," she says, mild, stepping past the floorboards like nothing happened. "How did you sleep?"

"Terrible," Luke mutters, scowling down at his journal as she sits down across from him.

"I can't say I slept very well, either. Still—that's what this is for." Wit raises her mug up from the table and takes a sip, relishing the rich, robust flavor of coffee. She's missed it out on the road, where rural specialties reign supreme over imported goods.

Luke makes a face. "That stuff is disgusting."

"It's definitely an acquired taste."

"Yeah, whatever."

It is to this auspicious dismissal that Ion enters the room, lost in thought. Wit gives Luke a polite smile and opens the weathered book she'd brought with her; as she does so, Ion meanders over to their table and smiles at both of them.

"Good morning," he says, taking a seat. "It looks like things outside are a little lighter."

Wit peers out the window next to the table. "You're right," she says, making a face at the thin film of sand covering the window panes. "I can see the other side of the street."

"Perhaps the last of the storm will lift today?" The hopeful lilt to his tone belies the uncertainty in his eyes.

"That would be nice," she agrees.

"Man," Luke sighs, settling his chin on his hand. "I just want to go home already…"

"So you've mentioned," Ion ventures, tilting his head. "Might I ask what you've been travelling for?"

Luke opens his mouth. Wit kicks his foot under the table. "Well, some things got mixed up, and he and Tear ended up near Tataroo Valley," she explains cheerfully, ignoring the death glare being shot her way. "It turned out that we were all headed back to Baticul, so I thought that travelling together might make things a little safer for all three of us."

Ion nods, hair bobbing with the motion. "It's good to have people you can rely on. I know I wouldn't be able to do as much without the help of my F—my friend… She takes very good care of me when she isn't attending to her duties."

"So is she here right now?" Luke asks, curious despite himself.

_He has demonstrated that he doesn't understand subtlety before,_ Wit reminds herself, resisting the urge to give him a flat look.

Still, Ion smiles and shakes his head. "No, she's conducting some business in Malkuth at the moment. She'll meet me in Baticul, whenever I get there."

"And that's where I come in," Guy says, stepping out of the kitchen himself.

_Huh. Must've gone in while we were talking,_ Wit thinks. Guy takes a seat next to Luke, sending a brief, apologetic look in Wit's direction. She shrugs; he smiles, relieved. "Seems like I'm finding myself with a lot of kids to keep track of these days."

"Ah, yes… I apologize," Ion murmurs, smile faltering.

"Hey, I told you not to worry. I agreed to it, right?"

"Yes, you did. I'm very grateful."

"Agreed to what?" Luke cuts in.

"Guy agreed to escort me to Baticul, since I have some business to conduct there myself. He was certain he'd find you along the way," Ion says, eyes curving with his smile.

"Ah…" Luke frowns. "Well… good."

Wit frowns to herself, perhaps unduly surprised given that Luke seems to have a soft spot for Ion. _That's all?_ she thinks, turning her head toward the window in order to avoid the motion being noticed.

"Good morning, everyone," comes Tear's voice, shortly followed by Tear herself. A round of greetings follow as she pulls a chair up to the table. "Wit mentioned you had something you wanted to talk to us about, Ion?"

"Right," Ion says, quickly looking much more serious. Even Luke can sense the mood shifting, it looks like, as he shifts in his seat and tries to copy Ion's serious look. It doesn't quite have the same effect. "The truth is… I have a very important mission to fulfill. I must see the king of Kimlasca… I _must_ speak with him. Normally, this kind of meeting wouldn't be too difficult to accomplish, but unfortunately… I've run into some issues."

Tear draws in a sharp breath. All eyes turn to her. "You don't mean—the Grand Maestro?"

"I couldn't say," Ion demurs; Luke looks between the two, frowning.

"Why?" he asks, sounding rather annoyed.

Guy sighs. "Fact of the matter is, Luke, that what Ion's doing leaves his tongue tied around people who may not already know. It's an international affair, for one, but it also involves the Order of Lorelei, and that means he has to be very careful. It's too important to risk anything going wrong."

Wit blinks. _That's... some of the more blatant bait I've heard in my time._

"…At least, that's what I've gathered," Guy says, looking at Ion, who nods.

Hm. Maybe he isn't intentionally leading Luke on, but regardless—Ion is building up to something. Guy just translated it into Lukese.

"If you're on a mission," Wit says, "isn't it a tad unseemly to go about without your Guardian, or even a few attendees? My apologies, but it is highly unusual."

Ion looks down at that, brows creasing in… worry? Worry. "Yes, it is quite unusual. Normally, I'd never leave Daath without my Guardian, and at the beginning, I did have people to help me out. But I've had to continue by myself. They're supposed to come through Chesedonia, so I hope to meet up with them before continuing on…"

"If they don't show, it shouldn't be too hard for us to take you along," Guy says. "You're close now, after all. Baticul is just a boat ride away."

"I guess I get why you're all talking around it, but it's _really _damn annoying not knowing what's going on," Luke says, crossing his arms.

Ion pauses. "It's a difficult situation," he acknowledges. "Normally, I'd be happy to discuss international affairs… but it really can't be helped at the moment, unless…"

"Unless we agree to help you," Tear says, tilting her head.

"Yes," Ion says, giving her an apologetic look.

"Ugh… this is so troublesome." Luke leans back in his chair. "I just want to go home."

A moment of shared silence as the other four glance between each other.

"I have to admit that as an Oracle Knight, I am concerned about this situation," Tear says, moving right along. "But I promised that I'd get Luke back to Baticul… I'm personally responsible, after all."

"Well, for my part, I'm a servant of House Fabre. As much as I'd like to help past escorting you to Baticul, what I do will ultimately depend on what Luke does," Guy says, glancing at his pouting friend.

"I'm interested, myself," Wit says, tapping a finger on her empty mug. "However, I work for the great blacksmith Aran Adami, and I'll need to check in with him before I can make any decisions."

"I understand," Ion says, smiling. "Thank you, regardless."

"What about you, Luke?" Wit asks, and all eyes shift to him.

"Well…" Luke fidgets uncomfortably under the weight of everyone else's eyes, cheeks turning a little pink. "Hey, Ion. You'll probably need help to get into the nobles' quarter, right?"

Ion looks thoughtful, but Luke barrels on before he can say anything. "Right. So I guess I can help you get into the castle, even though it's inconvenient for me," he says in a rush, fingers tapping on his bicep. "If you need the help that badly, I guess."

Another silence. Wit keeps her smile to herself.

"What," Luke nearly spits, face twisting with embarrassment.

"It's nothing. Thank you, Luke. I'm very grateful for your aid… you're kind," Ion says. And he _means_ it. Shock upon shock.

"Whatever. You'd better be," Luke grumbles. A flush is slowly creeping up his neck.

"Well, that's settled for now," Wit says, taking her mug and standing. "Ion, I would like to help, but I can't promise anything just yet. We're stuck in Chesedonia until the last of the sandstorm blows over, anyway—with it tapering off like this, I'm going to see what I can do about picking up some orders for Aran. If any of you would like to come with after I take this mug back, you're welcome to it."

"I'll come," Guy says, pushing his chair out. "Didn't realize you worked for the best blacksmith in Baticul. I'm curious to see where he gets his supplies."

"I have nothing better to do," Luke says, standing as well.

"I've got some things to think about, and some questions for Ion—if you don't mind," Tear says, glancing at him.

Ion nods. "By all means, go ahead. Have fun, you three."

Too late, Wit tries to hide her lack of enthusiasm by looking away. Guy smiles as he leans against the wall next to the door.

"We'll have fun," Wit murmurs, shakes her head, and makes her way into the kitchen.

"What?" Luke asks Guy. "What's with her? She said any of us, didn't she?"

"Just don't say too much when she's talking to the suppliers," Guy says, clapping a hand on Luke's shoulder.

* * *

Dusk falls while Wit is finishing up the last item on the instructions Aran had sent with her, so she drops Luke and Guy off at the inn and finds the nearest decent-looking bar she can, intent on making some progress in her long-postponed studies. It's only when she settles in the corner with a light, sweet drink and private surprise at how well-lit the establishment is that she realizes she's found the newest bar on the border between Malkuth and Kimlasca—a place she's been meaning to look into for some time now.

What sparks this realization is not so much the playfully-decorated strip delineating the line between the two countries so much as it is the blue uniform of the Malkuthian colonel seated at the bar itself and the stares that uniform is getting from patrons on the opposite side of the bar.

Wit finds herself staring as well. Something about the man seems—not quite familiar, per say—but where…?

He turns his head. Crimson eyes meet hazel; her heart stops in her chest as recognition strikes her.

Colonel Jade Curtiss, prized scientific mind across Auldrant, infamous military commander, father of fomicry… author of the book she's currently got open on the table and former superior to her dead brother.

_Awkward._

As casually as she can, Wit turns her attention back to her book. She tries to ignore the way panic makes her heart pound; she isn't eleven any more, isn't an anxious slip of a girl eager to please, and revisiting that is of no interest to her. She settles into an uneasy rhythm after a few pages, managing to take a few notes, but the odd feeling of knowing the Colonel is present and examining her refuses to go away.

She'd never expected to see him again, considering she only ever met him once throughout Daud's years of service.

Right when she decides that enough is enough, he stands and starts ambling toward her table, drink in hand. The panic flares anew in her veins; she finds herself stuck on page 131, scanning the words over and over again but failing to comprehend their meaning. The worst thing, she thinks, would be if—

"Elisa Antema," Jade says, sitting across from her with a pleasant smile. "I hardly recognized you."

—if Jade recognized her.

In the corner, the shadows shift. Wit fancies she can hear faint laughter emanating from them, as though the universe itself mocks her misfortune. She forces a smile and doesn't quite manage to avoid its resigned tinge. "Colonel. It's been a long time."

"Please, do call me Jade. What brings you to Chesedonia? Last I heard, you planned to help your father in Nezacht."

Wit shifts. "Well, I was eleven," she says diplomatically, finding an odd sort of comfort in the knowledge that Jade hasn't changed, and therefore wouldn't have approached her if he didn't have a reason for it. "But I've been on a business trip. I work for Aran Adami now—the blacksmith, you know? Got stuck, though." She nods at the piles of sand visible through the window.

"I see," Jade says. "You've been busy, Elisa."

"That's life, I suppose. But I do go by Wit now."

At that his gaze sharpens; he takes a sip of his drink. The strongest thing they have here, it looks like, a dark crimson under the torchlight. Damn. "Is that so?"

"Yeah," she says, casually. Too casually, probably. "Easier to sign off on things for work. I guess you could think of it like a professional nickname."

"I'll keep that in mind, then. How interesting, though. I assume there's a great deal of travel involved in your work—Aran Adami does not have his reputation for nothing."

"There is, yes," she grants cautiously, not entirely sure where he's going with the subject. Aran does have a unique reputation, and part of that comes from his insistence on using rare materials to create his more artistic work; she's found herself all over the world in pursuit of things like ancient decorative helms and metals that harmonize with fonic energy. But is it just curiosity, or is he aiming for something else?

It is at this moment that the door on the Malkuth side opens, distracting both of them. Wit tries not to breathe a sigh of relief when it's Guy who enters, glancing around the room. She starts to wave him over, but his eyes fall on Jade and light up in recognition; he strides over without needing to be asked.

"Jade," Guy says, standing next to the table with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face. "It's good to see you made it in one piece."

"Oh, it wasn't too much trouble," Jade says, voice light. Wit looks between the two, mentally trying to account for two separate halves of her life suddenly and forcefully welding themselves together after many long years of disassociation.

Guy nods at her. "Hey, Wit. Didn't know that you two knew each other."

"Well, I met him once when I was young," she says, trying to keep her smile up. "We haven't really kept in touch, but hey, we're both here."

"And I assume you two know each other," Jade says. It isn't a question, and if she's reading him right, he's… pleased about something? Hm. It bears further consideration; he has one hell of a poker face.

Guy nods. "She's been taking care of my friend Luke. She'll be with us at least until we reach Baticul."

"How interesting," Jade murmurs, and Wit tries not to feel the cold shiver of doom that runs down her spine when he gives her a fleeting speculative look.

She needs a distraction. "So, you're in on the plan?"

"I might be," Jade says with a twist of the lips that could be something like a smirk. His voice is mostly neutral, but she's old enough now to hear the hint of mischief. "But then again, I might not be. It would depend on what you're talking about."

Wit gives him a flat look. She is _not_ eleven any more. Instead, she raises an eyebrow at Guy.

"From what I understand, he is," Guy says with a touch of nervousness and a sheepish smile.

"Now that's not any fun," Jade says as he stands. "But you're not wrong—I do need to rendezvous with our mutual companion, if he's here."

Wit glances at him, too aware of the open book on the table. "I've got some studying to finish up, so I'll be behind both of you if you're headed back to the inn."

"That's fine," Guy says. "Just came to check up on you. It's getting pretty late, after all."

"Oh, don't worry about me. Go on, I'll meet you there—nice to see you again, Colonel," she adds, waving them off. She ignores the feeling of her smile wilting at the edges. Guy's stride is relaxed, while Jade's is the perfect picture of military precision—hands clasped behind back, steps measured, pace even.

_Quite the contrast,_ she thinks, turning back to her notes, trying not to imagine what a similar sight might have looked like years ago. _Some things never change._

Her smile falls as Guy's words finally register in her brain.

It is getting late, true. She hadn't even thought of that. Cramming as much activity and knowledge into her life as she could possibly handle has really put a dent in her ability to keep to a semi-regular schedule.

She sighs, massaging her temples. _This is turning into far more than I bargained for._

Still, she _had_ told herself and Aran that it would be interesting, and she's been proven astoundingly correct. First it was a lost Oracle Knight accompanying a clueless noble, then the Knight was the Commandant's sister and the noble was a fon Fabre, and from there things have only gotten more and more complicated.

The shadows in the corner flicker in time with the gentle swaying of lamplight from the window. Wit forces herself to read and comprehend, but a small portion of her mind is still spinning with implications and possibilities that refuse to slow down.

She knows that a Scorer would call the continual turning of the world on its axis a matter of fate, and a layman would not be terribly likely to think anything else of it, if they thought of it at all. But again the course of her life follows the laws of irony: her reading has once again presented her with the fact that there was life before the Score as well.

Jade, in this book, does not address this beyond the statement that prior to the Score, prior to Yulia, the Dawn Age had regenerative technology that saved lives. He is, after all, primarily concerned with examining the feasibility of replication technology and its application in the modern world. He'd written it years before he'd instituted the ban on fomicry of living creatures, and it's fascinating to see what he was up to when she was a teenager, but the implications behind that simple statement—"_Before Yulia, in the Dawn Age, lives were saved through superior regenerative technologies"_—are breathtaking.

For someone like her, those words represent hope. Hope for a new world.

Her lips thin. She will never get anywhere by merely dreaming of the future; if she wants change, she will have to create it with her own two hands.

If creating that future means aiding the Fon Master, well, she'll sacrifice comfort and safety. There are some things in life that are too important to simply pass up; an opportunity like the one before her, she knows, is one of them.

For what feels like the millionth time that evening, Wit lets out a long sigh and forces a calm she is far from feeling.


	4. Chapter 4

As the morning sun turns over to the afternoon and the dry desert heat begins to make Jade feel as if his hair is burning, he finds Wit at the docks, gathering information.

Already, he feels heartened. They may have a complete liability in the form of one clueless, obnoxious noble on their hands, but he's assessed what he's got to work with, and none of the others are anywhere near matching Luke fon Fabre in function or form—which is to say that they are assets on this mission, civilian or not, and considering the way this assignment has gone thus far, Jade will take what he can get.

_It says something, _he thinks, _that a ragtag bunch of misfits are the best chance of getting to Baticul that the Fon Master has had yet. _

"'Fraid the ship won't be in working order for a few more days yet," the old man with wispy hair and a flyaway beard is saying, putting the crate he was about to lift back down and looking Wit in the eye. "Sand's gotten into every crevice, and the boys say enough of it has gotten into the engines that they'll need to inspect it all thoroughly before gettin' on the move again. Safety 'n all that."

A short distance away, Jade watches as Wit shrugs with an easy smile. "Shame," she says. "I suppose it's the way of things, but I'd hoped for something different."

The old man chuckles, shaking his head. "Hope, eh? A man's got no time for that 'less he makes it himself. And that's what we're doin' here, puttin' the rest of the ships back in workin' order. Be seein' ya around, I expect. Heave ho!"

With that cheerful rallying cry, the man hefts the crate up onto his hip and strides in the direction of a gaggle of young sailors eyeing the sand-encrusted riggings with uncertainty. Wit watches him go, gaze thoughtful, but when the man starts giving the younger men a tongue-lashing she rolls her eyes and makes her way over to Jade. With a somewhat self-conscious smile that pulls at the scar below her lip, she adjusts the high collar of her jacket.

Interesting that she appears unbothered by the desert heat, despite wearing a long-sleeved sweater and a jacket—though, Jade supposes, it does make sense if she works for a blacksmith. "Well, there you have it, Colonel. Sorry to make you wait. What brings you here?"

"You," he says, setting an easy pace toward the stairs up to the city. As they walk, he notices that her eyes constantly flicker from place to place. Not nerves—intentional awareness. That will be useful. "It appears that Ion has something he'd like the whole group to hear."

What it is he doesn't know for sure, though he can guess. Ion had been listening rather intently as the innkeeper went on about the weather and the Planet Storm, and the only thing in the whole spiel that hadn't been irrelevant drivel had been at a point where the old woman came back from dealing with a customer and mentioned that they'd mentioned a rumor about the Zao Ruins out in the desert.

Apparently, during the sandstorm there'd been a fonic disturbance in the ruins. Whatever it was, it caused an earthquake and caused some of the surrounding portions of the desert to cave in.

_Apparently. _

The old biddy had also said that there'd been an entire caravan there at the time and they'd been swallowed up by ten metric tons of sand. Given that the sandstorm has prevented travel across most of the Chesedonian desert, Jade is very nearly certain that she had been exaggerating for the "benefit" of her audience, which had included Ion, Luke, and a gaggle of small children, but further investigation at Malkuth's local military offices proved that there was at least a kernel of truth in what she'd been saying.

Ion, he knows, has been troubled by the weather and its oddities; most likely, he'll ask to investigate. With the ships out of order, they might as well.

Anise hasn't shown yet, after all, and if her prolonged absence is due in part to her taking the time to send Kain back to Grand Chokmah as Jade suspects she has, it will be a few more days yet.

Wit gives him a sidelong look that returns his attention to the present. "Me, huh? I feel special. But that works out pretty well, since I'm going to have to be the one to break the news about the ships to Luke."

Jade smiles. It's a _nice_ smile. "You have my sympathies."

"He's not that bad," she ventures. He regards her with a single raised eyebrow. She makes a valiant effort, but in the end, she deflates. "…Yeah, he is. I've heard some crazy stories about nobles, but he just takes the cake."

"If you'll indulge my curiosity… how is it that you came to accompany such an august personage, Elisa?" he asks. At the sound of her name she jumps and gives him a wide-eyed look; he ignores it and waits, though he does file away the reaction for further examination later. Even if she _had_ actually been trying the other night when she'd said her name change was merely for professional purposes, there's obviously something more to it—though it isn't his business to pry.

Wit runs a hand through her hair and laughs, the sound of it only slightly nervous. "Funny story, actually. I was camped in Tataroo Valley, left my spot to help a man whose carriage had broken down, and came back to Luke eating my stew."

"My, my. That's quite the first impression." Admittedly, her experience really isn't any better than the introduction he'd gotten to Luke—_who the hell are you, _indeed, and first thing in the morning too—but a noble being _that _terrible with social skills? Much like everything else about the boy, those poor interpersonal skills are highly unusual for his background. Added together, well, it's very suspicious indeed. Suspicious and annoying.

She snorts. "I know, right? I found out that the two of them were headed to Baticul. Not sure what they were doing in Tataroo, but I wasn't sure they could find their way out of a paper bag, carrying on like they were. I felt bad, so I offered to help them out." With a shrug, she sidesteps a man carrying lumber on his shoulder. "By the time we got here on the forty-fourth, Guy and Ion were already at the inn, and that was that."

"It took three weeks to get to Chesedonia from Tataroo Valley?" Jade raises his eyebrows at that. For civilians capable of combat, it should've only taken a few days.

Wit gives him a look. Head tilted, eyes disdainful and half-lidded, eyebrows slightly pinched—it all goes together to create one of the most profound looks of derision Jade has ever encountered, which is quite impressive considering his friendship with the Emperor. "Luke insisted on fighting every single monster he saw, at least half of the ones he didn't, and got us lost in a forest by running off and tripping into a river."

"Ah. Naturally."

"We also had to stop in a village for a few days so that Tear could instruct him on the use of fonic fields," she says, briefly leaning her weight against the sandstone wall of a house to avoid a dusty child dashing out of the street that leads to the marketplace. She pauses, looks at him for a long, inestimable moment, then continues. "…It was very strange."

Jade also pauses. "Was it, now?"

"I don't know, I've never met anyone else whose fon slots felt entirely unused," Wit says lightly as they move past the market streets and drift into the less-crowded residential areas. They're headed toward a shortcut back to the inn, he knows; he'd seen her leave through the alley next to it this morning. "Bit funny, that's all. He's a seventh fonist, y'know? Usually, the Order snaps them up quick."

"Well, he is a noble. Perhaps Duke Fabre didn't want to send his son off for training. After all, there was that kidnapping attempt Malkuth was blamed for a few years back." Though he presents her with an argument, he isn't terribly surprised to find that her assessment of Luke's situation is sounding very similar to his.

It doesn't take much for the cracks to start showing, apparently.

She shakes her head. "See, I'd thought that might be the case, but the Princess is a trained seventh fonist; I've seen her heal people on the streets in Baticul. He's ostensibly her fiance. Surely they'd receive the same treatment? The danger presented by an untrained seventh fonist is very well-known. And as much as I hate to say it, Luke's got raw fonic power in spades—but absolutely no finesse. It makes me wonder."

"Should a Kimlascan citizen really be informing a Malkuthian colonel of this?" Jade wonders, stepping over a sandy pile of wrapped-up rugs.

"Ah, I'm still Malkuthian. Passport and all," Wit says, diffident. "I've just got a work visa."

The plot thickens. He shakes his head, smile wry. "My, my. You're full of surprises, aren't you, Elisa?"

"Says Colonel Jade Curtiss, foremost scientific genius of the modern age," Wit tosses back, living up to her assumed name—though he isn't sure he likes the way she says his name, like he's especially famous outside of Malkuth.

_Infamous,_ maybe. He's certainly butted heads with more prominent researchers in both Sheridan and Belkend enough times, and that's ignoring the exploits that earned him the name "Necromancer".

Still, there's no reason for her to know how he feels about that. So he lets that go without comment and leads the way through the alley. They pause on the inn porch, glance at each other—_here goes,_ her smile and raised brow says—and he opens the door with a marked lack of enthusiasm.

* * *

"Damn, it's hot. And sandy. Man, I hate sand… Wish we were going to the oasis…"

Silence.

Luke looks back at the group when he feels the weight of their stares on his back. "What? What is it?"

"Oh, nothing," Wit says, and the unappreciative look he sends her tells her that her expression is a tad too open to lend any sort of pleasant neutrality to her words. There are only so many times one can tolerate minute variations on _sand is so sandy_, especially when those variations are accompanied by things like Luke flipping his hair and whipping half of them in the face with it; just because she and Tear had managed to teach him that travel was rough in the preceding weeks unfortunately does not also mean that he learned not to whine about it.

When even Ion has a strained air about him, it means you've gone too far. Wit smiles back at Luke and tells herself she only takes a little bit of pleasure in the way his scowl intensifies.

The desert is hot. Water is wet. They were never going to go anywhere near the oasis, despite what Luke seems to have believed; if he's irritated about the sand in his boots and every seam of his shirt rubbing against grimy skin heated by the sun, well, everyone else is too.

She breathes in and tries not to let the way the skin of her back is chafing against her customary long-sleeved shirt visibly bother her; it always aches at times like these, but she'll be damned if she goes anywhere in the vicinity of behaving like Luke.

"It's just… we know," Guy says, diplomatic. He adjusts the collar of his shirt and shakes it with a brief frown. "Most people don't appreciate being reminded of it at every turn."

"Yes, who was it that started an argument with me every time I checked our location because, and I quote, '_it's so damn annoying, stop it already'_?" Tear asks dryly.

Luke's cheeks, already flushed pink from the heat, turn red. "Shut up!"

"My, my. That's not a very polite way to speak to a lady, Luke," Jade says, a distinctly taunting note in his voice. "What do they teach nobles in etiquette classes these days, I wonder…"

"I didn't take any stupid etiquette classes!" Luke yells, walking faster.

"Explains a lot," Wit mutters, exchanging a glance with Jade. Guy just sighs and pulls one of the shirts meant to protect them from the desert heat out of his pack, shuffling into it as he goes to catch up with Luke.

Ion coughs. Tear falls back some, putting a hand on his shoulder, and he gives her a brief smile. "My apologies for interrupting, but… I've been seeing animal tracks on the surrounding dunes for the past ten minutes or so."

"Indeed," Jade agrees, ever the observant one. "There are also human tracks. I do believe we'll be running into some sooner or later—"

Around the next dune, Luke screeches in surprise. Guy yells something Wit doesn't quite catch, sounding exasperated, and the clashing noise of metal against metal grates against her ears. The breeze that carried the sounds to them dies down, and the noise grows fainter, but there's no mistaking the beginning of a battle.

"—Or now," Jade finishes, dry. Tear gives him a suspicious look. He smiles.

_That's not innocent at all, _Wit thinks, but whatever his reasons, Jade wouldn't have let any sort of ambush sneak up on them if he didn't think it could be handled. She rolls her eyes at him and breaks into a jog to catch up to the action.

* * *

"Colonel…" Tear starts.

He adjusts his glasses. "Yes?"

"Did you let them sneak up on us on purpose?" she asks, arms crossed.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," he says with a somewhat reproving look. "Come now, we'll miss the battle. And wouldn't that be a shame?"

He makes his way across the sands sedately, hands in his pockets. Tear shakes her head. "Incorrigible."

"Oh, it's not that bad," Ion says. "He's very reliable, you know. I trust him with my life."

"If he left you with me, I suppose he's trusting me to take care of you," Tear says. "I think I'll sit this one out; they're probably going to need healing afterward."

A loud boom sounds. Nothing comes for a short moment after that-then Wit swears loudly. A responding cackle, feminine and unfamiliar, is cut off by an alarmed shriek as first fonons swirl visibly around the site of the battle and strike downward with what sounds like a faint roaring.

"Oh my," Ion murmurs, eyes trailing after the residue left by the fonons. Though it would have been hard to notice if he hadn't been looking for it, patches of darkness remain in the air above.

Tear follows Ion's line of sight and frowns. "…What does that mean?"

"I think that if neither of us know, perhaps it's best that we don't," Ion says, the robes of his office trailing against the sand as he walks. His words are punctuated by another explosion. "Shall we go see the damages?"

"Let's wait for a minute, Fon Master. It sounded like bandits—if they're not all killed and they catch sight of you, it could put the mission in jeopardy. Plus, you need to keep yourself hydrated." Tear hands him her canteen. Ion opens his mouth to protest, but she frowns at him. He takes the canteen and drinks without comment.

When Tear doesn't scold him further, Ion is distinctly reminded of Anise's missing presence. She would fuss him into oblivion if given half a chance, and he finds that he misses the way she hovers and presses and pries, annoying as others seem to find it. He clasps his hand to his chest and bows his head.

_I pray for her safety, _he thinks, a small smile finding its way to his face when he pictures her face scrunched up into a scowl at the thought of needing divine protection. _And that we'll be reunited soon._

The sound of the battle dies down. He hands the canteen back to her. "Thank you, Tear."

"Of course, Fon Master…" She catches herself, gives him an apologetic look. "I mean—Ion. My apologies."

"Please, don't worry about it."

* * *

Tear and Ion round the bend nearly as soon as the last bandit falls. Luke is sitting down with his hands in his head, eyes vacant, while Guy crouches beside him with a frown. Jade and Wit are busily disposing of the bodies of the bandits they'd just fought; Jade's gaze rests thoughtfully on Wit, who waves at Tear and Ion.

"It was a good idea to wait," Wit says, stepping away from the nearest pile of sand. "They took themselves out when they lost the upper hand. It was… messy."

"I assume that's why Luke is sitting over there?" Tear asks, frowning.

Wit nods, brows pulled together. "Got a front-row view."

"He'll have to adjust," Jade says. "The Oracle Knights will likely have increased the intensity of their operations in Chesedonia by the time we return. There's no guarantee that we'll be able to avoid casualties."

"But I can't be that cold!" Luke bursts out, standing and facing all of them with wide eyes. "I… they… they were _people,_ they were human lives!"

"Nobody's saying that they weren't, Luke," Wit says after an excruciating moment of awkward silence. This is a thread of conversation that has lain dormant for a week or so, and she wishes things were different. Irritating, obnoxious, unbelievably selfish—Luke is all of these things, yes, but when he lets his guard down enough to show it, like now, his heart is soft. Too soft for the world they live in. That sort of innocence doesn't have a place in reality, no matter how the selfishness that accompanies it manifests.

_But could it? _a small part of her mind asks. _How many times have people had to carve out homes for themselves in a reality that seems to contradict their existence? How many times have_ you _had to?_

There's no time to think about it. The present demands her attention, and so she steps away from the bodies and fixes her eyes on Luke's horrified face.

Tear nods. She glances at the bodies—a teenage boy, a man, and a woman, all with hair a soft shade of purple, all thankfully face-down—and she looks away. "They were people. But as true as that is, they attacked you. They wanted to take your life away. There was no other way to get through. Would you have stood there and let them take that away from you?"

"But you didn't—!" Luke swallows, passing his hand over his eyes. He looks away, over the sloping sands. "I… I can't accept that."

"You have the choice not to fight, Luke, like we've said before. We can protect you, too, if it bothers you that much," Wit says.

Luke looks down. "I… I can't be a burden, either."

"Well, either way, we're wasting time," Jade says, hands resting behind his back. He looks out over the dunes at the horizon, where a dim, dark shape is visible. "I'd like to get as close to the ruins as we can today. Shall we have you move to the middle with Ion?"

"…No." He shakes his head and his hair bounces with the motion. "I can fight. And I will fight. It's just…"

"It's not wrong to care, Luke," Wit says, thinks of a time when she was younger, and closes her eyes. "In fact, it's very honorable of you. But it might do you well to remember that at least two of us are soldiers, and I myself was a mercenary for a few years. We have different responsibilities placed upon us… responsibilities we may not always like, but we're bound to them nonetheless. There is a divide between the heart and the mind that is necessary for us to do what we do every day."

Luke's eyes remain fixed on his feet. He makes no response.

"Let's get a move on. We can't exactly stay here," Jade says, no trace of levity left on his face. The last of the graves, sandy and shallow, are dug without comment by Guy and Wit; soon enough the bandits have been buried, and they set out across the sands with Ion alone in the middle of their formation. Silence reigns until Tear notices a loose button on the side of Luke's jacket, and normalcy slowly returns as Luke squawks and picks a fight with her, but his pallor remains and does not quite leave. Another piece of innocence tarnished forever.

Wit hums a short strain of a strong, earthy, ancient song that dances on the edge of hearing and does not mind when Ion joins in with the near-intangible melody of the wind that accompanies it. Together the song sounds far-away and desolate, and it quiets the others, who listen in with varying degrees of confusion and interest.

It fits the mood. The music always does; fonons vibrate in harmony with one another in every space of every place, resonating, whispering, telling stories about the essence of it—but usually, the songs can't be heard unless you listen for them. The desert is hot and grimy and endless, and the wind that whips across it is hotter and harsher, but it can be called quiet if one has the patience to listen.

It took her a long time to learn how to listen.

Up ahead, Luke is eyeing the dark shape of the ruins in the distance with trepidation. It makes her smile.

That part of Luke's innocence may be gone forever, buried beneath the sand with three bandit siblings, but he is young enough to be wary of the dark. What an interesting conundrum their fon Fabre is.


	5. Chapter 5

"Well, Colonel, what do you think?" Ion asks, eyeing the complicated sigil emblazoned on the ground in the center of the entrance chamber. Beyond him the door to the Sephiroth pulses with fonic energy, glowing gently; it provides a surprising amount of light for being what it is, however eerie a shade it casts over the ruins surrounding it. "I am nearly certain that this is Daathic in origin, but I've never seen these specific verses combined like this."

Jade's gaze is intent. "I can't claim to know the intricacies of Daathic artes, Fon Master, but judging by the meaning it does look like it was intended to either shake the seal to the Sephiroth or amass large quantities of the second fonon. Perhaps both."

Unnoticed in her spot between two crumbling pillars, Wit gives the pair a rather dry look. _Can't claim to know the intricacies of Daathic artes? You probably figured it out when you first saw it, Colonel._

"Something about this place makes me feel uneasy," Guy says to Luke. They both sit against the only remaining wall, watching Ion and Jade with bored looks.

Luke lets his head fall and hit his knee with a thunk. It echoes. "No kidding."

"Well, these are the ruins of an underground city," Tear says, cautiously leaned up against the next section of bricks that aren't a crumbling wreck. Her staff is in her hand, ready for action at any moment. Wise girl.

Wit glances at the sigil, then the sealed door; she looks away. Ruined indeed. Exactly the sort of mysterious that leaves you with more questions than answers and a vague sense of unease in the air, like some trace still remains of the madness that encompassed the city on the day it fell. She isn't sure she likes that. "Well. If we're talking 'uneasy', that sigil screams 'trap' to me."

"It's just a big symbol on the ground. What's so iffy about that?" Luke asks, frowning as he stretches his arms.

"Think about it. Daathic fonic artes are some of the most powerful artes in existence—period. What is one doing just sitting on the ground like that if Ion is supposed to be the only one capable of placing them by virtue of being the Fon Master? He couldn't have done it. He's been with us the entire time. So who put them there, how, and why?" By the time she is finished, everyone in the room is looking at her—even Jade and Ion. She leans back against the wall, crosses her arms, and tries not to feel hunted under the weight of their combined gazes.

_Well, damn,_ she thinks, absurdly amused by her own discomfort. _Now you've done it. You pointed out the obvious. Congratulations._

"Astute," Jade says, and she isn't quite sure whether it's a compliment or not—but the look in his eyes could be construed as approving, so she decides to run with that. "And curious. I must admit to wondering who—or what—put this here, myself. As it stands, I think we can be relatively certain that this sigil drew enough second fonons to itself to cause a significant disturbance in the fonic balance of this area… however, whether that was the cause of the sandstorm or not would require further examination of the area, as I would expect it to take more power to upset the Planet Storm. Unfortunately, we don't have the time to examine it."

Ion nods, though his brows are furrowed with worry. "The sigil looks like it can't be activated again, so I think if we leave it alone, it should be fine. Though I might send a team out here when I have the time… the existence of this sigil at all concerns me greatly."

"As well it should," comes a voice, and the group collectively tenses. "After all, now that you've seen this, I'm afraid I'm going to have to bury you here."

From a towering, ruined spire that disappears into the endless cavern ceiling, what looks like a blur of green leaps down and lands in the middle of the glyph. A boy in an impressive raven-shaped mask stands from his crouch; the sigil lights up with him as Tear pulls Ion behind herself and Jade leaps back. Luke and Guy are already standing in front of the rest of them, tense and ready for a fight.

But Wit recognizes that mask, and her hand tightens on her warhammer. _Sorry, Aran._

"Sync the Tempest," she murmurs, drawing another round of glances from her companions. "God-General of the Oracle Knights."

"Some nobody has heard of me? Guess I need to inform someone that his officers are falling down on the job," Sync comments, arms crossed. "Whatever. I'll do that after I crush you lot."

"Please, wait. How do you know Daathic fonic artes?" Ion says, leaning out from behind Tear. She pushes him back with a frown, and he stays, but looks hopefully at Sync through the gap between Tear's torso and her arm.

Sync tilts his head, a curiously nasty smirk finding its way onto his face. "Wouldn't you like to know, Fon Master? I'm not about to talk this out. What use have I got for diplomacy? Fight for your lives… if you can. Maybe I'll tell you then."

He takes the initiative in a breathtaking burst of speed, forcing Wit, Luke, and Guy to scatter as he lands in the middle of them with a slash.

"Luke, Guy," Jade barks, drawing fifth fonons in a circle around him. "Offense! Wit, mid-range!"

With cries of acknowledgment, the two dart for Sync—who, in turn, weaves through both of them, jumps back with a sneer, and begins casting his own arte.

"Hold back, Tear!" Wit gestures for her to stay with Ion and waits until Jade's arte goes off, throwing Sync into the air with the force of the fiery explosion, to barrel in and hit the God-General with an upswing.

Sync gasps in pain (she thinks she sees Guy wince in sympathy), but he lands on the ground feet-first some feet away and sends all his gathered fonons into the sigil on the ground with an angry hiss. He looks up. Wit gets the distinct impression he's glaring at her. "You'll pay for that!"

"Why are you even doing this? What is it going to—" Wit starts to ask, distracted, but suddenly he is there and swiping at her with those wicked-looking half-moon blades. She jumps back in the nick of time, still shocked at his speed. Luke covers her retreat with distinct unease.

She grits her teeth when she feels Sync gathering fonons—all that did was buy him time, it seems. Beneath their feet, archaic verses inscribe themselves under the extant ones; even the hit Guy scores on Sync doesn't seem to deter him.

"Be careful, everyone! He's modifying the arte!" Ion calls out as Tear starts chanting and Jade hurls his spear at Sync's chest, forcing the boy to move or risk impalement.

"Ugh, your voice is so annoying! Just shut up already!" Sync yells, using the sigil to pull a massive amount of second fonons to him. "Stone Dragon Ascent!"

Wit mutters something unflattering under her breath and hits the ground at a roll that leaves her somewhere near Jade; she stands just in time to feel her left shoulder explode in pain as a falling stalactite grazes it, and she falls to her knees with a pained gasp. _What the hell, _she thinks. _What's in that arte—_

"Up, Wit," Jade says, voice commanding, and she does not think about rising. He catches her gaze as she gets to her feet. "Assist, then stick to cover. I'm far from spent, but I will require space."

"Got it." She hefts her hammer and draws first fonons to it as surreptitiously as she can; if she can gather enough, she'll be able to add some extra swing into a hit—maybe even swing the battle overtly in their favor. The weight of the hammer and the pain in her shoulder drags her down as she shoots for Sync's back, dancing between the ominously-glowing lines of the sigil as quickly as she can. Ignoring the pain pays off: she misses the swing, but snares Sync's feet in a thick collection of first fonons. Tear shouts something and Guy responds, but her focus is keen as she refines and follows, then—locks on.

Just what she needed. "Great shadows of the night, take my enemies in your grasp and smother them in everlasting silence. May their light be subsumed by the darkness—_Torpor!"_

"What… what the hell," Sync manages, swaying in place; his hesitation makes room for the combined impact of a water arte from Jade and a slash from Luke's sword to hit him and force him to his knees. Luke lowers his sword in front of him, eyes hazy with exhaustion and face pale. Something's wrong with him, but there's no time for Wit to ask. Sync tips his head down briefly, then straightens it again with a snarl. "Damn it! I shouldn't have expected any less from Jade Curtiss of all people. Fine. I'll take you seriously… let's see you handle an Akashic Torment!"

Luke never had a chance. Sync's hands, already on the ground, curl into fists. The ground lights up as a Daathic glyph appears on top of the sigil and Ion shouts in alarm—

Pain explodes behind Wit's eyes as she finds herself knocked into the air by a wave of energy; sensation disappears, except for the distant sound of screaming. _That's us, _a part of her recognizes dimly. _Luke and me. Guy too? And Tear?_

_Am I going to die? I can't. I can't die here, like this, after everything— _

She hits the ground. Or perhaps the ceiling. She's really not sure which way is up, and if she had the time she'd lie there gasping, but some base instinct in her reacts to the vibration of feet on the ground and she rolls away just in time to avoid a half-moon blade slicing through her neck. It's just like before, with her heart in her mouth and blinding pain and terror in her veins, and she shakes her head rapidly in an attempt to clear her vision and get back to the fight. It doesn't work, but then, all the sounds of battle have ceased. She wonders why until Sync takes one step back, and then another.

"What _are_ you?" he breathes, catching her attention, and that's when she realizes that it's not her _vision_ that's the problem.

First fonons swirl around her, thick enough to be visible to the naked eye. They lap at her heels and dance on her hair, curl about her shoulders like an old friend, and it shouldn't feel as much like home as it does.

Wit closes her eyes and clenches her shaking fingers into fists and swallows her beating heart back down to where it is supposed to be. "Aw, hell. Not again."

Her voice reverberates, and it's not the cavern's acoustics that does it.

"This has happened _before—"_ comes Jade's voice, sharp and questioning, but Sync's mouth thins into a frown, then curls into a wicked grin.

"O-ho," Sync says. Leans forward a little, even. "I do believe the Order will find this very interesting indeed."

_No, _Wit thinks, in that moment viscerally aware of the results of _that _possibility. All her plans and projections and futures shatter in an instant of panic. _That can't happen, it can't, I can't let that happen—_

Her train of thought is quite suddenly cut short by the sudden lurching of the fonons surrounding her toward Sync. He tries to leap back, but he moves all wrong; he hisses, fumbles, and falls on his leg with a wet, painful-sounding wrenching noise. In an instant he is encompassed by writhing darkness, and no matter how Wit tries to draw the fonic energy back to herself and force it into some semblance of control, the fonons run wild over and into him, flooding his fon slots with their sheer density. He doesn't scream, but his face twists horribly below the mask.

"Oh, hell," she breathes. "Dammit. This is bad."

A gloved hand lands on her shoulder and blue fills the corner of her vision. Jade. Not entirely a comfort. That's fine. His hand isn't entirely intended to comfort. "Elisa. Calm down."

"I can't control this!"

"I can see that. Be glad that it's wreaking havoc on our enemy and not on you." There are so many questions in his eyes that she has to look away, swallowing, until she's drawn in several deep breaths. It doesn't really help anything—in fact, it almost makes it worse, seeing everyone else unconscious already—but it's the thought that counts, brings the memory to mind that lets her clamp down and ignore the way her hands are shaking.

"Sync isn't going to wake up for a very long time, if ever," she says finally. "That right there is raw fonic energy responding to me. As far as I've been able to determine, anyways."

"…As I was asking, this has happened before?"

"Once. Wasn't pleasant."

Jade's expression flickers too fast for her to parse. A part of her thinks it _might_ be frustration, but she pushes that part away and focuses on the now. He only raises an eyebrow. "I will require more information than that, Elisa."

"Can we do this later?" she asks, looking down as the first fonons dissipate into the shadows, their purpose finished, and leave the area lighter and Sync motionless save for the rise and fall of his chest. It's been a long time since an incident like this has happened to her with witnesses around. "We should probably get everyone else on their feet so Tear can heal us all up."

"I suppose that would be prudent," he grants, clearly unenthused by the idea of leaving answers for later, but makes for the item bag next to Ion's feet regardless. He pauses and glances over his shoulder. His eyes pierce through all the shadows in hers. "But we will talk."

She smiles, because she doesn't know what else to do with the heavy weight in her chest except to begin recalculating her options. "Yeah, I figured."


	6. Chapter 6

They spend the night outside the ruins, Tear guarding Sync while Guy entertains Luke and Ion by the fire, and that's when Jade draws her aside.

"I have to start with the fact that I have no idea how or why I have… that," Wit says when they're settled, and pauses. She glances at him uncertainly as she runs her hands through her short, messy hair, trying to straighten it. "…Is there a name for it?"

"If there was, I wouldn't be asking you about it," Jade says, legs crossed gracefully, elbows resting on his knees, fist holding up his chin. The man is beautiful, Wit can admit; enough so that she's very nearly jealous of his grace.

But she's distracting herself.

"My heart," she deadpans. "Shattered. Right there."

Jade just fixes her with a look. She swallows and wishes he had something else to direct his attention toward. Just because she'd said she wouldn't avoid it doesn't mean this is _easy. _"You said that phenomena—emitting tangible first fonons—has happened to you before?"

"…Yes. Once, I was attacked by someone and nearly killed. I was sure I was going to die, but I must've done something, because I found myself surrounded by first fonons. I was scared out of my mind, delirious from blood loss, and when the fonons started moving without my conscious direction, well." She passes her shaking hand over her face and lets out a short, dry laugh, knowing she's irrationally embarrassed and yet unable to think herself out of it. "I screamed. So did my attacker. And after that, the only thing I could see was blackness—I think it was the sheer density of first fonons, looking back. I ran from the site and into the woods, where I passed out. When I woke up, the fonons were gone."

"It sounds like in both cases, you instinctively drew first fonons to yourself when you took severe damage," Jade says, and she finds herself bizarrely grateful that he does not ask about how that incident made her feel. "It is highly unusual, but it's possible for some people to have a strong enough affinity with a certain type of fonon that they draw on it unconsciously."

Wit sighs. "I've read about that, but, well, you were the one who noted that an individual's fonic output shouldn't be high enough to be visible."

"Ah, so you were reading my work that night," he says, the picture of polite surprise.

She cracks a quick smile. There is very, very little that escapes his grasp. "I'm still studying when I can."

"My, but they do grow up fast."

Whether it's his words or the dry look on his face, something in Wit sighs and lets go. For better or worse, he's here now, and she can't do much about it.

_Does it matter, does he matter, what will he do?_ her mind asks her, still alive with a thrumming anxiety she knows she can't silence just yet, distantly recognizing the absurdity of expecting Jade Curtiss to be intimidated by anything even vaguely related to fonons, but—

"Colonel, please!" she protests with a real smile, shaking her head. "You're hardly an old man yourself!"

"Nonsense. I've been an old man for five years now, and I enjoy every second of it."

She laughs, partially because she's amused, mostly out of relief. "If you're old," she says with a grin, "what does that make the innkeeper back in Chesedonia?"

"I'm not sure. I suspect she may be manipulating time and space to maintain her existence," he says with a straight face.

"Ah, yes, truly a practitioner of the most arcane arte of all: Time Distortion. It enables the user to stay past what one might otherwise see as their natural time." She snickers to herself.

Jade glances out at the desert sands, but not before she sees his small, amused smile. "I assume you plan to stick with Ion?"

"I'd certainly like to. I will, however, need to work something out with my boss," Wit says, one eyebrow raised at the sudden change of subject. "I happen to like my job."

"I see. I still have some questions, but I doubt either of us would have the answers at present. For the moment, that's enough. Though perhaps it would be a good idea to keep an eye on you in battle… you seem to have a propensity for getting into trouble." He stands and offers her a hand up; she takes it and is comforted by the strength of his grip. It is nothing like a dying man's.

"You don't know the half of it," she says dryly, almost absently brushing a gloved finger over the scar on her chin, and together they walk toward the fire and their companions.

* * *

The first thing Wit notices when they return to the gates of Chesedonia is the increased quantity of soldiers wandering about inside the city. They're not just any soldiers, either—they're Oracle Knights, in full regalia. Looking for something. Her lips thin as one speaks with a Malkuthian officer.

Aran had told her to be _careful,_ dammit. Though, admittedly, this is what she had signed up for. Her eyes cut to the squad of Knights that take a right turn into the marketplace. She should be unrecognizable, but still, what if…

Guy glances at her, adjusting the unconscious Sync's position absentmindedly as he walks. He's been carrying Sync since Luke threw a fit about royalty being made to lug a prisoner around. "You noticed it too, eh?"

"Very interesting," she murmurs, drawing glances from Luke and Tear at her lack of verve. "Means a few things, though."

"Indeed. They'll be on the lookout for Ion," Jade says. He holds his hands at perfect rest behind his back, angular, loose in a way that belies the sharpness with which he regards the plaza ahead of the long, narrow road. From what Wit can see, two helmeted Knights converse with an old woman in red. "We ought to be careful."

After a moment of indecision Wit crosses her arms, thoughtfully tapping her chin with a finger. She glances at the tall sandstone buildings and the thin alleyways between them, cracks in the city, breaks in the seamless skin of Chesedonia—tributaries full of secrets and hidden homes, a halidom for the downtrodden. She once lived here, and unless things have changed drastically, the old paths ought to be open still. "If security is that pressing, I know a few back roads we could take."

Everyone looks at her. It's becoming a familiar sensation. "I'd appreciate it," Ion starts, but a commotion up ahead brings them to a halt about halfway down the road. The Knights have drawn back and the old woman is gone, but in her place are several more Knights proceeding in formation, and judging by the way Tear and Ion both raise their eyebrows, it means something significant. Wit scowls, wishing she'd have grown taller in her teenage years. She's just too short to see what Tear can. Maddening. Ion tilts his head at the sight of the Knights in full regalia. His lips turn down at the edges. "Oh my… The Commandant? Here?"

"Master Van?" Luke asks, perking up. "Master Van is here?"

Tear frowns. "It should be him, Luke, but—"

"Whatever! I'm not going to listen to someone who tried to kill him. Hey, let me through!" Luke shouts, trying to wave the Oracle Knights aside. "I'm gonna see Master Van!"

"And just when you think he's beginning to see the foundations of sense," Wit sighs. Her heart pounds in her chest, but she does her best to give no sign of it; right now, they are primarily concerned about Ion and Luke. The less guilty she acts, the greater her chances are of getting through Chesedonia—if not unseen, then unrecognized.

_If only I'd remembered that before,_ she thinks, resisting the urge to bite her lip and glare into space. _Would've been able to keep my secrets._

But then, she hadn't really been trying in the first place. Besides, it was Jade, and… and it's not worth thinking about right now, not when they're essentially on the job.

Guy rubs the back of his neck with a sheepish laugh. "That's… definitely a Luke thing to do. I probably should've expected that. He adores Van."

"Oh, believe me, I know," Wit says, exchanging a glance with Tear. Luke had spoken a lot more when it was just the three of them, sure, but his favorite topics were swords, Van, how weird everything looked, and… Van. Out of courtesy, Wit had decided to refrain from asking Tear how it felt to travel with someone who held more adoration for her brother than she seemed to.

"You tried to kill the Commandant, Tear?" Jade asks with a raised eyebrow. His eyes flick toward one of the alleys for a split second, but whatever he saw, he dismisses it and returns his attention to Tear.

"…I suppose in Luke's view, that'd be all there was to it," Tear settles on saying. She shakes her head. "But we should probably go after him before he does something else that's stupid."

She follows Luke, frowning all the way.

"All kinds of interesting things are happening," Wit says with a cheer she does not feel, earning a collective look from the other three. "I'm sure there's a worst-case scenario here, but let's do our best to avoid it, eh?"

"I'm inspired by your optimism," Jade says, voice completely neutral. Rather impressive, really.

"So glad to have your support," she says with a straight face.

Guy shakes his head and adjusts Sync again. "Let's just… get over there before Luke gets too excited. Unless one of us needs to stay back with Ion…"

_That mask must be difficult to deal with,_ Wit thinks absently, distracted by the way Luke looks to be antagonizing the heavily-armed trained soldiers guarding one of the most important members of Daath's organizational structure. She can see brown hair about the same shade as Tear's peeking out over a helmet, so presumably, the Commandant really is there.

But still. Luke.

"It should be fine," Ion says, looking up from the ground at which he had been gazing, absent from the world around. "While the Commandant will likely want his God-General back when he sees that we have him, I am certainly in a position to maintain my authority. Lead the way."

They make their way down to the plaza; despite Ion's words, Wit, Guy, and Jade fall into a triangle formation around him. The presence of so many soldiers is concerning no matter what the circumstances are, even if they aren't overtly hostile—though, Wit thinks when she spots a Malkuthian militia man out of the corner of her eye, having one on your side can be rather helpful in the right situation.

"…Please, excuse him," Tear is saying to the nearest Knight as the rest of them reach her and Luke. "He's… been somewhat isolated."

"Understood, Locrian Sergeant," says the Knight.

"Tear," comes an entirely new voice as the Commandant at last makes his way through the formation, and into view comes a man who is eminently military. If the gigantic sword at his side didn't do it, the decorations on his epaulets—long, wicked, curved horns bathed in black that taper off about the same level as the middle of his forehead—definitely would. That's some serious military status, no matter how silly it looks as he sends his soldiers off to patrol. Wit tries very hard to keep her face neutral, altogether too conscious of her tendency to let her expressions do the talking. Van favors his sister with a hand on her shoulder. "I am glad to see you safe and sound. Luke as well, I see."

_I wonder how heavy that hand is,_ Wit thinks to herself, but Tear is nothing if not a soldier. Nothing in her betrays discomfort except the utter lack of positivity in the way she holds herself. Tear dips her head, hand falling to the pouch where her daggers are concealed. "Safe and sound," she echoes. "Commandant."

"Master Van," Luke interjects as Van opens his mouth to respond. "I'm so glad you're here!"

Van glances over at Luke with a small, cold smile. Behind Wit, Jade shifts; for her part, she swallows and hopes her sweater and high collar hide it. _I'm not liking this,_ she decides. _Not at all._ Van straightens and lets his hand drop to his side. "Luke. I trust you've been working on your parry."

"As much as I can!" His grin is sunny, an entirely new thing to the eyes of his companions; he seems to have forgotten all about his harrowing experience. Jade's stare burns into Luke's back and he doesn't even notice. Incredible. Just the force of it grazing her shoulder is enough to make her want to find a nice, shadowy corner to hide in.

"What are you doing here?" Tear asks, an implicit threat in the care with which her hand rests on top of her weapons pouch.

Van sighs, the weary exhalation of an older brother beset upon by a foolish sibling. "You misunderstand, Tear. Do not draw your weapon. I came to find a missing God-General… I can't say I expected to find you or the Fon Master here, though I did hear that both of you had been here when I got in."

"Well," Guy says, shifting his shoulder down in order to display Sync's lolling head, still masked. "I'd say we found him for you. Sync, eh?"

Van raises a majestic eyebrow. "Oh my. What happened?"

"We're not sure." Ion steps forward. "He attacked us without provocation during our investigation into the fonic disturbance in the ruins, and seemingly knocked both himself and us out when he used a rather particular fonic arte in desperation. He hasn't woken up since."

"I'll interrogate him when he wakes up, Fon Master. His orders had nothing to do with the ruins." Van approaches Guy and takes Sync from him; Guy watches in silence, thoughtful and analytical. "My apologies for his actions. The God-Generals may technically be my subordinates, but the Grand Maestro faction has been moving strangely as of late."

Ion nods once. "Apology accepted, Commandant. I trust that the increased presence of the Oracle Knights here in Chesedonia will not interrupt the city's residents nor hinder me from my business."

"We're going back to Baticul," Luke says. Tear casually steps on his foot; at this point, he only glares at her.

"Ah, is that so? All I heard from the Order was that you had vanished from the cathedral, Fon Master," Van comments, both eyebrows now raised. "I must admit that I'm curious as to why."

"I'd gladly tell you—after we return to our inn, however. We've just gotten back, and my companions are quite tired. Perhaps you could meet us there after they've had a chance to rest?" Ion glances at Luke, who looks away. Embarrassed, perhaps, though Wit can't see any viable reason for it.

Van closes his eyes in thought. "That should be doable. As long as you show me where the inn is, I will be able to attend to my duties and return at 1500 hours."

"Why don't you lead the way, Luke?" Jade says, and even Luke understands that it isn't so much a suggestion as it is an order.

"Fine, I guess," Luke sighs, more like the boy they all know. "The path is pretty twisty. Took me a while to memorize it."

"Very good of you, Luke," Van says. Luke beams.

Wit quietly shifts to the back with Guy and exchanges a glance with him. His eyes are set somewhere between concern and commiseration, framed by blond brows slightly furrowed, and she knows that she and Jade are not the only ones wary of Van and his intentions.

* * *

It becomes very clear to Jade over the course of the impromptu meeting there is far more to Luke's situation than what meets the eye. Not that it hadn't been exceedingly obvious before; it's more that the deft hand with which Van handles the boy's unpolished, impulsive exhortations and exclamations lends another view to all the ill-fitting puzzle pieces that make up the mystery of one of the most significant pieces of Kimlasca's future.

One that Jade isn't at all inclined to like.

Aside from Malkuth having been blamed for that kidnapping incident, there is the fact that Van's hand is deft in his dealings with all the young adults present. Deft enough to be indicative of extensive familiarity with the persons in question. On its own, that wouldn't be bad—but with the way Van obfuscates and dances around his points? Well, now. How curious that the man feels the need to play politician among friends.

It isn't exactly any of Jade's business, so he lets it go, but if there's anything that having the Emperor for a friend has taught him, it's that charisma goes a long way—a very long way. Peony would be far less popular if he had no social presence; there is a force about the man that seems to win others over naturally, which Jade has only ever understood in terms of utility. Regardless, Van possesses a similar air.

Like Peony, he is aware of it and employs it—to great effect. But where Peony's intentions are as good as a ruler of a nation's can be, Van's motivations are far more questionable. Perhaps it comes with his primary duties being largely military. Jade himself is no innocent. He will do what he must in order to accomplish his goals, and he has always been willing to do so. To say that there is blood on his hands would be something of an understatement. Granted, his situation was… somewhat different, but he is aware that his attitude is shared by men he has both commanded and been commanded by.

Put a man like that into a position to pursue an agenda, and what do you have?

To the side, Wit observes the proceedings with crossed arms and a curious look on her face. She is paying attention, he knows, but she has said nothing, and she watches Van with the eyes of someone sizing up what they have to go against. Her caution is perhaps a tad obvious, considering how clearly Van has dismissed her as unimportant. Not unwarranted, though. Only a moron would have _no_ wariness in dealing with the Commandant.

Jade's eyes cut to Luke, who sits pouting at the table next to Van. The boy's stare is absent and disinterested.

_Only a moron, hmm?_

The pieces present themselves: a kidnapping, eerily expansive amnesia, isolation, and the man who is never surprised by Luke's mindboggling ignorance—the man who treats him with kindness, who teaches him to wield a brutal sword, who is ever favored by a boy lost in the world despite never having set foot outside of his manor.

The only other man who has direct access to the second-most important future figure of the Kimlascan nobility aside from the royal family and his immediate family.

Both families would just be relieved to have their son (future or current) safely home, regardless of amnesia, regardless of being unable to walk and talk. They would be far from questioning what, exactly, happened—there would be no one to communicate the experience, because the incident was blamed on Malkuth, and from Luke's own words, the culprits were never found. Van had found him, though, and brought him home.

Van alone. It is the reason for Luke's frankly irritating hero-worship, and as he never lets them forget, in his eyes, Van is the best man to have ever walked Auldrant.

…_But it couldn't be,_ Jade thinks, privately glad that his face is nowhere near as expressive as Wit's. _There are too many holes for him to be a replica, surely. Where would the equipment come from? Who would risk going against a ban I instituted? What would be the motive? _

He knows he could come up with plausible projections, given time. More than plausible—but he has no solid evidence, and Jade Curtiss is not given to bandying about accusations without data to back himself up.

"Yes," Ion is saying. "I must speak with the King. I apologize, but as Fon Master, I cannot disclose anything else at this time."

"I see. That is a bold move, Fon Master, and I cannot say I am pleased that you did not consult me beforehand."

"Well… Whatever it is, it's important," Luke cuts in, suddenly returning to reality. He regards Van with wide, pleading eyes. "Master Van, Ion's not the kinda guy to be sneaky for no reason. Don't think badly of him. I know he wants to do what's right. Besides, I promised I would get him to see Uncle, and I don't break my promises!"

The letter in the pocket inside Jade's uniform feels heavier, somehow.

_Perhaps it hopes that it will have a greater chance of being delivered, _Jade thinks, the words coated in dry amusement. There is this letter, Anise's letter, and a third that Ion himself holds; the hope is that only one will be required, but should something happen, well, they will be prepared.

The thought of Anise reminds him of earlier: he had seen a flash of pink and dark, curly hair disappear into an alleyway when Luke was busy getting them into this situation. Whether she plans to make an entrance or if she's found some Order business to keep her busy he doesn't know, but either way, Ion will be glad to know that she has made her way here. For his part, Jade must admit to being glad as well—Peony had pouted endlessly when Jade had forced him to sit at his desk and write the letters out, and her presence means the time and energy spent cajoling the Emperor into doing his job hasn't gone to waste.

"Is that so?" Van gives Luke an indulgent smile; in the corner opposite of Wit, Tear's lips thin. Jade does not pretend to understand exactly why. "Well, perhaps it would be remiss of me to prevent you from keeping one. I was able to acquire some temporary passports for you and Tear to pass through to the Kimlascan side and the ports. There should be just enough extras for everyone."

At that Wit's face goes flat. _Yeah, right,_ it says, but to her credit, she manages to conceal it before anyone else notices. He makes a mental note to mention it to her at some point. She seems to be aware of it, but intent as she is on aiding in an operation like this, she will have to become a better liar.

"Wow, cool! Thanks, Master Van!" Luke takes the passport that's handed to him and gives Tear a look. "See? He's super helpful!"

Tear sighs, but before she can speak, Van pats Luke on the shoulder. "You are kind, Luke, but I can fend for myself. Tear, if you would be willing to speak with me privately…"

"No," she says, arms crossed. Jade is distinctly reminded of Nephry's attitude toward him when they were children.

"…Very well. Then I must ask what has brought this about. Is it your mission for the Grand Maestro?"

Tear gives it some thought. Finally, she tilts her head. "I couldn't say."

"What mission?" Luke asks accusingly.

Tear raises an eyebrow and regards him as if he is a particularly boorish child. "…I couldn't say."

"It's probably classified, Luke," Guy says from his spot against the wall.

Luke sighs. "What, is everything?"

"Only the things you want to know," Jade says, smiling. It earns him a silent, collective look from everyone except Wit and Van.

Most entertaining thing that's happened the entire meeting, really.

"You're the worst," Luke comments, and turns to Van. "So, Master Van, when can we get going? It's important that we make it soon."

"That will depend on how soon your entourage can be ready, Luke. I would consult with them first."

Luke looks at all of them in turn. "So…?"

"I think I will require some rest before we set out," Ion says, smiling. "I've never been good with boats. My apologies, Luke."

"Eh, well, it's fine… It's a pain, but it's fine," Luke says, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms behind his head. "If you need to rest, you need to rest, you know?"

"My. How very understanding of you, Luke," Jade says with a sly smile. Luke sputters a little and glares at him.

Wit takes pity on Luke and steps forward, drawing the attention of the room. "Hey, Luke. Come with me on a supply run, okay? I said I'd show you how they work the markets here."

"Ah, man. Do I have to?" Luke scowls.

"Yes," she says with a firm smile and narrowed eyes, walking over and messing up his hair. "We're not going to have another tomato incident, you know. It would be terrible if they got into your hair next time, wouldn't it?"

"Geez, you don't have to remind—stop that! I'm coming, I'm coming!" he squawks, covering his hair with his arms and glaring at her as he stands. "Do you know how long this takes to brush?"

"Thirty minutes if you do nothing to it. Forty-five if you take the extra time to style it. You know, there are places in the market here that will do that for you—interesting, isn't it? Five years ago, when Aston decided to ramp up production…"

The door shuts behind them, leaving a silent room.

"…Impressive," Van says, distractingly bushy eyebrows raised.

"Seriously," Guy agrees. "Damn. I couldn't herd him around like that if I tried."

Jade just smirks. "She does have a way with people, it's true."

"I'm leaving," Tear declares with no further fanfare, taking the opportunity provided by the light moment to escape. With that, the meeting is ended; Guy sees Van to the inn's entrance, and Jade finds himself alone with Ion.

"I must say, this war-stopping business is more tiring than I anticipated," Ion says with a weary laugh, leaning his elbows on the table and supporting his head with his hands. "I would very much appreciate Anise's presence…"

"I caught sight of her earlier, Fon Master. I expect she'll find us soon." Jade pauses, unsure of whether he ought to continue or not. He has seen sickly men before—it comes with the territory when one is a commander. Inevitably, there will be a soldier or two who finds himself in the hospital. But Ion is, frankly, too pale. Granted, his reasons for it are good—he had been the one to request that Sync's mask remain on around the others for as long as they had him, for one. Still, Jade finds himself wondering how severe Ion's condition will become if he keeps going. "…Knowing her, she is likely planning an entrance."

It isn't what he had thought of saying, but then, there is also honor in serving something more important than yourself. Jade knows this. He knows the necessity of Ion's work. After all, Jade has seen the horrors of war. He participated in some of them. Others were wrought by his own hand. The loss of life is devastating on multiple levels, not merely ideologically.

But Jade also knows that Ion's weak body does not bode well for him. Especially with as young as the Fon Master is.

A replica's body has to be strong to survive for very long, after all.


	7. Chapter 7

"—So, Luke, there you have the basics behind why there are hair salons in Chesedonia, along with the early principles of supply and demand. If you'd like to know how that could possibly be useful to you, as the look you've been giving me for the past fifteen minutes indicates, then consider who you will be someday." Wit's smile has no regret or pity in it. Only a sharp-edged sort of ferocity that reminds Luke more of one of those ligers they'd encountered when it was just the three of them.

_What's so interesting about economics, anyways? _he thinks, scowling darkly. Wit has been on this kick about educating him for the past three days or so—ever since they got started on coming back from the ruins, actually. He'd be insulted if Tear wasn't doing the same thing, just a lot more subtly than Wit has been.

A little part of him is fascinated by how they can make anything sound interesting. But just a little part. For the larger part, Luke fon Fabre does not like this impromptu crash course on the basics of the world one bit—he has more important things to worry about, like getting back home and letting Mother see his face so that she knows he's perfectly fine.

None of them seem to understand this except Ion and Master Van, and both of them are busy with their own problems.

_Ugh._

Why does everything have to be so complicated? He never asked for any of this. All he had wanted that day was to have another lesson with Master Van. Just them and Guy, maybe, because Guy's been pretty helpful in Master Van's absence, but nothing could really ever fill in for the real thing. But seriously, Tear had just—come in and attacked her brother. Why Luke still can't understand, though apparently she's with the Order's 'Grand Maestro' faction and Van is on another side, whatever the details of that are. If he had just been quicker, maybe he could've avoided being transported halfway across the world.

Luke sighs and ignores Wit's somewhat less rigid, more concerned glance. She's been teaching him a lot, sure, but he never asked to be taught. He just wants to go home. Home to his bedroom, home to the same four walls, home, where Mother is constantly bedridden and Father is never there.

…Maybe home isn't that great after all.

"Luke, look out!" Wit warns, drawing him back to reality, and that's when a blur of black and pink knocks him over. Luke gasps for breath, disoriented by the way his vision is now filled with blue sky and sandstone yellow walls; Wit kneels by him and waves her hand over his face. "You alright?"

"I'm… fine," Luke gasps, looking down his nose at the little girl who'd run into him. She seems just as dizzy as he is, blinking rapidly; he tries hard to bite down on the sudden surge of irritation. "Can't you watch where you're going?!"

The girl blinks again, giving him a funny look. "Didn't I just—oh. Oh," she says, and he finds himself very unsettled by something about the way she's looking at him. He scowls, glaring right back, and it earns him a brief, unimpressed frown. What does she know that's so special, anyways?

"Got a problem?" Wit asks with one raised eyebrow as the girl gets off and Luke can breathe again.

"Not a one," says the girl, and gives the most annoyingly high-pitched giggle Luke has ever heard. "I'm soooo sorry, mister! I didn't even see you there… gosh, what was I thinking? You're such a handsome man, I don't know how I could've missed you!"

"Gee, thanks," Luke says at the same time as Wit says "yeah, sure," and the two exchange a mutually derisive glance.

"…So," Wit says, crossing her arms and tapping her fingers on her bicep. _Huh,_ Luke thinks, blinking. For a lady, her arms are pretty muscular… must be that battle hammer. "What was that you were saying earlier about Luke?"

"What, me? I don't know what you're talking about! I've never seen anyone as handsome as him in my _life."_ The girl crosses her arms behind her back and rocks back and forth on her heels.

"If you say so. Now, if you'll excuse us…" Wit puts a hand on Luke's shoulder and begins to steer him away from the kid, like he's a cow or something. Luke shakes her hand off with a scowl; she shrugs, putting her hands into her pockets, and gestures to the right with her chin. Weird. Everything about Wit is weird—her mannerisms, her voice, her face, her personality, everything.

But she did steer them the right way back in the beginning. She might be annoying and rude and nosy, but at least she doesn't have an agenda like Jade or an ulterior motive like Tear. And he probably won't have to deal with her—or anyone but Guy, and he likes Guy—much longer, because soon enough, he'll be home.

Luke groans internally, knowing enough to recognize that he's come back to the same train of thought despite having left it behind somewhere between being knocked down and dealing with a weirdo.

"Wait!" comes the girl's voice, and Wit halts with an expression halfway between interest and exasperation on her face. _Yeah,_ Luke thinks, dry. _I've seen that one before._ The girl runs up to them and smiles sweetly. "So sorry to bother you again, but would you have happened to have seen a boy with green hair around here? He wears white clothing, too. Pretty distinctive look. He's my friend, you see, and I wanted to see him while I was in town…"

Green, with white clothing… _she couldn't be talking about Ion, could she? I mean, there are a lot of people with green hair in the world,_ Luke reasons, thinking back to the boys he'd seen in the village that Tear had taught him the basics of fonic artes in.

"His friend, eh? That all you are? Don't see many girls running around a city like this all by themselves." With her arms crossed and that annoying, mysterious little smile on her face, Wit looks a lot more like a mercenary than usual. Maybe she really was a mercenary once—she's got the scars to match, at least.

But that's a lot of mental effort to expend on someone he doesn't even like all that much. Luke checks out as Wit asks all sorts of questions about who the kid is (her name is Anise, apparently) and what she's doing and where she's going; the woman could get information from a stone if she talked with it long enough, so why should he pay attention? Someone else is doing all the work, and he doesn't really care in the first place, anyways. The kid is annoying, the woman is annoying, and really? Luke just wants to go home. Doesn't matter how quiet or boring it is—it's better than the huge pain in the ass that traveling is, and he'd be able to focus more on his sword skills, too.

Who needs fonic artes? No matter what they say or make him do, he doesn't. Master Van had always taught him that the surest thing he could trust was his own strength.

_I guess knowing about them could be useful for when I can finally move about freely, _Luke thinks, crossing his arms behind his head. He leans to one side for a bit, then the other. His muscles sigh in relief—no, they _sing._ Damn. He's been stretching, so what's the deal? Experimentally, he leans over to his right for a minute—

"—Luke!" Wit's voice is sharp. Luke opens one eye and glares at her; she and Anise are looking at him with… what? What's that all about? Why does she look concerned? Suddenly, she reaches out and seizes his wrist—not to drag him somewhere, but to examine it. Luke blinks. She looks up at him with her lips in a thin little line and her brows furrowed. When she speaks, her voice is low. "Luke, you were glowing."

"…What?"

"You were glowing," she repeats patiently. "Emitting light. Golden light. Do you know what that means?"

_Why the hell should I know,_ is his first thought, but she isn't looking at him like he's a moron, or implying it with her voice. All that is gone, and she seems totally serious. Wit is hardly ever serious—a lot like Jade, actually. If she's serious, something's wrong. Luke searches his mind for anything, anything at all, and comes up blank save for the signs of an impending headache—tight pressure in his temples and right between his brows.

Not good. He hasn't had a bad headache since he got into this mess; he'd honestly hoped that the intense ones would be gone for good. Panic pushes his heart into his mouth and floods his veins. What is he going to do?

Wit sighs. "…That's a no. Okay. That means that your body was gathering seventh fonons to itself in preparation to unleash a hyperresonance. No seventh fonist is supposed to be able to do that alone—a hyperresonance is so unstable and destructive that it requires two people to even build up. The fact that you can do that alone is… very unusual. It also changes our plans. Anise will be coming with us back to the inn; I want you to tell Jade about what just happened—"

"Hell no," Luke says, raising a hand to his head and screwing his eyes shut as the headache starts in on him again. "I… I hate that guy…"

…_hear me…_

The voice is back. Distantly, he can feel Wit's hands on his shoulders; he groans as a fresh stab of pain assaults him without warning.

…_my voice! My scion…_

What does it even want? What's a 'scion', anyways? Why won't it leave him alone?

"Luke, listen to me," Wit says, and something about it breaks through the haze he's lost in—something about the quality of her voice is different, though he couldn't start to explain how. It seems deeper, somehow, more resonant, even though it's still just her talking. "You are in Chesedonia, the desert city. Nowhere else. If you can open your eyes, do it. That's right—look at me. Don't try to do anything else."

It takes far, far more effort than it should to do what she says; he squints, fighting to keep his eyes open through the way his temples pulse with pain—it's like someone has decided that his head is a door that they need to knock on. She looks… really calm. Too calm for what's happening. Why is she so calm?

"Let's try something that might help you. I'll count to three. Breathe in. When I hit three, exhale slowly. Got it?"

Sounds stupid, but he'll try anything at this point. He nods.

Open relief shines on her face. "Good. Thought I was going to have to do this the hard way. Alright—ready? One, two, three…"

He follows her instructions and breathes in and out, trying to ignore the way his head pounds and the sidelong looks people are giving them as they walk. They don't know him or what he's been through. All that matters right now is breathing, so Luke focuses on just that. For how long, he couldn't say. Too hard to tell. But as time stretches on and he breathes in, then out, and in again, all as Wit guides him, the pain ebbs away and is replaced with a sort of lightness he hasn't felt in a long, long time.

"There you go," Wit says, and her hands ease off his shoulders. A sudden wave of exhaustion hits him. _Ugh,_ he thinks, spreading his feet a bit to try and regain his center of balance. _I hate this so much…_ "Let's head back to the inn now, alright?"

"Yeah, you're not looking too good," Anise chimes in.

Luke sighs. "Whatever…"

Home, home, home. He'll be home soon. And maybe if he keeps thinking that, he'll be able to get through this without too much more trouble. After all, they'll be boarding the boat tomorrow.

* * *

"Well, well. Here at last," Wit says as they step off the boat. She glances at Luke, whose eyes are wide as he looks up at the tall walls of Baticul. Has he never seen it from the port before? Maybe he'd never left the noble quarter. It'd make sense. When everyone's standing to the side as the luggage is unloaded from the ship, she nudges him. "How does it feel to be back, Luke?"

He blinks, then shakes himself a little. It doesn't really get rid of the downcast look on his face. "…I dunno. Good, I guess… I didn't realize the city was so huge until I saw it just now."

Hm. Looks like someone's got a case of the homecoming blues.

_I suppose the outside world got to him through all that complaining,_ she thinks, tilting her head.

"That's more lackluster than I was expecting," Jade comments. It earns him a half-hearted glare; Luke quickly returns to staring vacantly at nothing, gears spinning visibly in his mind.

"It's been a while, hasn't it? A whole month. You sure you don't want to look around for a bit before we head up, Luke?" Guy asks, eyes all too knowing as he examines his friend.

Luke shrugs. "What's there to see?"

"My smithy, for one," Wit says after a moment's thought. She does need to go there, so why not? It's not the arena or the bazaar within or the eateries on Undine Road, but it's plenty fascinating. "My boss, Aran Adami, is pretty well-known around these parts for his dedication to quality and beauty in his work. Why don't we take a quick look around the shop?"

"Beauty, huh? Exactly how beautiful are these blades?" Anise asks, head tilted as cutely as she can possibly make it. There is the same wicked glint in her eyes that Wit has seen on older faces with less poise, the same yawning hunger for that which can be grasped in one's hands and felt, and Wit resists the urge to raise her eyebrows at its presence on a young girl's face.

Instead, she spreads her hands open wide with a grin. "Thiiiiis pretty."

There is a beat of silence.

"…Don't look at me in that tone of voice. You all can see for yourselves what I'm talking about if we're good with stopping in there for a moment," Wit says, crossing her arms. She has never been more glad that the high jacket of her collar hides the way the back of her neck grows warm. Standing in the middle, holding the attention of an entire group of people with all of them looking at her, has never been her forte.

"I've heard of Aran Adami," Ion says, crossing his arms over his staff and leaning on it for a moment. "Blades aren't the only things he makes, correct?"

"That's true. His specialty is actually accessories—specifically high-end accessories, like capacity cores and fonic regulators. He makes me go all over the world in search of materials for them…"

"Does he use any fontech?" Guy asks, too casually. Luke makes a derisive noise and rolls his eyes; Guy frowns, though it's less disapproval and more embarrassment. "…I'm just asking."

"Ahuh. Yeah. And all those fontech journals are actually Pere's, not yours," Luke mutters. It draws a noise that sounds suspiciously like laughter out of Tear, who looks out at the sea when everyone looks at her. "Hey! You laughed!"

Tear sighs, looking him over with a frown. "I'm human too, you know. But whatever… Fo—Ion, what do you want to do?"

"I won't object to visiting the smithy, though I would prefer that we make the visit quick, as Wit said. Our business is rather pressing, after all." Ion stands tall as he speaks, but there is an unmistakable fatigue to him that everyone can see—even Luke, though Wit doubts Luke understands the depths of it. It seems like with the return of Ion's vivacious Guardian he feels a little more comfortable with showing his weakness around them; after all, Anise fusses over him more than enough for the rest of them.

"Personally, I'm a little wary about the idea of something else going wrong if we take the time to do so," Jade says. "Delaying doing so until we accomplish the task we set out to do seems the more prudent course of action."

Wit nods. "Good point."

It'll just take longer to get the official go-ahead from Aran. He's got good reasons for wanting her to check in right away whenever she comes back to Baticul, but he'll understand when she gives him a summation of the situation and the opportunity in front of them. Wit grimaces to herself. Framing it like that—like an opportunity, simple and detached from everything that makes helping Ion not only important but right—feels cold.

It's not. Not really. Thinking about it now will only start her on the long train to jumbled nerves, though, so she discards the thought and returns her attention to the present. Ion is looking at Luke, who is staring glumly at the ground. Probably hasn't heard a word past Tear's question.

"Let's visit the smithy," Ion says, a little more firmly. "I might be able to make some use of a capacity core. Anise has been teaching me some of her light artes in her spare time."

"Geez, Ion, that was supposed to be a secret!" Anise bats his shoulder with an exasperated smile, which he returns with a quiet amusement. A moment of silence passes as everyone observes their fond familiarity; Anise glares them all into submission before Luke glances over with a frown, having completely missed everything that just happened.

"…If that's what you want to do, I'm fine with it," Jade grants with a lackadaisical shrug. Luke shoots him a look of absolute bafflement, which he skilfully ignores by starting to make his way toward the cable cars. "I believe Wit will need to lead the way—"

The loading ramp on the boat makes a great, thunderous noise as it collides with the dock. Luke and more than a few of the sailors jump and look over at the commotion. After a moment, a red-faced sailor peeks over the deck and shouts an apology. Two other men wave briefly to their buddies on the dock and begin working the mechanisms that levy the ramp all the way up.

Wit gives the commotion a squinty-eyed glance as she moves to catch up with Jade. "Poor guy," she mutters under her breath. He'll be ribbed pretty hard for a mistake like that, judging by the grins of the men working on the ground. If past experience is any indication, an ale or five will smooth things over.

Or a bar fight. Depends on the mood, really.

"Hey, Wit, isn't that the box you got in Chesedonia?" Guy asks, nodding to a crate emblazoned with a hammer symbol that a woman is carrying into one of the many buildings on the upper level of the docks.

She nods. "Yeah. It's fine, that's the one that I'm having sent to Aran through the postal system. That way they'll know I'm not trying to bring a bomb into the city. My life's gotten a lot easier since the princess instituted the inter-city transport system."

"…That's happened before?" Tear asks, blinking.

Wit averts her eyes. "…Maybe. Couldn't say. We'd better get going, though, or it'll be dusk before we make it to the castle."

"Just who _is_ she?" she hears Luke ask behind her, equal parts exasperated and bewildered.

Why does he think she can't hear him? Luke's idea of "muttering" in no way fulfills the purpose of the action, which, she's quite sure, is to voice something… to yourself. Either this pattern of behavior is plain old passive-aggressive baiting or he has no real awareness about what he's doing, thus making it a case of ignorance. Luke has shown himself to be quite ignorant… "What, did I forget to give you my name, Luke? I'm Wit Danales. My specialty is finding weird materials and my favorite color is blue. Take care of me, okay?"

"No! Take care of yourself!"

"Aw. Such a shame," she says, shaking her head. "Here I was thinking I'd have an easy out. I guess that's life!"

She can feel the scowl aimed at her back. "I'm not easy."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Jade says mildly.

Anise jogs up to walk beside Wit and gives her a sweet smile. "So, we're going to your smithy… what else is there to see in Baticul? I've never been to this city, after all."


End file.
